Who will score Iran’s 10th goal in World Cup?

Iran’s national football team has participated in five World Cups and has played 15 games.

So far, Iranian players have scored eight goals in the prestigious event.

Iran beat Morocco 1-0 in 2018, but it was not an Iranian player who scored the game-winner. It was Morocco’s Aziz Bouhaddouz who scored the heartbreaking own goal in the fifth minute of injury time.

Now, the question is which one of Carlos Queiroz’s men will be lucky enough to score the 10th goal of Team Melli in the history of the squad?

Iran’s 1st goal

Iraj Danaeifard was invited to the national team for the first time in 1977 and helped Team Melli qualify for the 1978 World Cup.

Danaeifard scored against Scotland, which was Iran’s first goal ever at a World Cup. He equalized the match in the second half and secured Iran’s first-ever World Cup point.

After the Asian Cup in Kuwait in 1980, he announced his retirement from international football with 17 caps and 3 goals for Iran.

Hassan Rowshan

Hassan Rowshan was the star of the Iranian football team and the Esteghlal Club, a technically gifted, distinguished attacker unrivaled during his era, highly creative, and a complete athlete.

Rowshan was quickly becoming a household name in Iran. With his club, Esteghlal Tehran, he won many championships and trophies. However, the highlight of his career was the qualification for the World Cup finals in Argentine 1978 and his goal in that tournament against Peru national team.

Hamid Estili

Iran has only won one of the 12 matches they’ve played across four FIFA World Cup tournaments (1978, 1998, 2006, 2014), but that one win was one of the most memorable in FIFA World Cup history.

The match against the US was one of the most eagerly anticipated matches in France in 1998, and the moving display from the two teams showed the power of football to bring people together, but it was still a match both teams were desperate to win.

And it was to become one of the abiding images of the 1998 World Cup that broke the deadlock, the-AFC.com wrote.

Hamid Estili scored the Goal of the Century in the first half and Mehdi Mahdavikia made it 2-0 in the 80th minute. With three minutes remaining, Brian McBride halved the deficit but it was not enough for the Americans.

Mehdi Mahdavikia

Mehdi Mahdavikia ensured that his name would remain in the Football history books by scoring the second goal against the US in Lyon during the World Cup 1998.

Many also point to his dynamic game against the United States in World Cup 1998 which saw him score Iran’s second and winning goal, as his best ever.

He won the Asian Young Footballer of the Year award in 1997 and the Asian Footballer of the Year award in 2003. He was known for his crossing, speed, and dribbling.

Ex-Iran forward

Reza Ghoochannejhad represented Iran in the 2014 World Cup and scored his side’s only goal against Bosnia-Herzegovina.

He had already scored the winner against South Korea in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Ulsan.

“As a kid, you dream to be a part of the World Cup and playing in a World Cup,” Ghoochannejhad told www.a-league.com.au.

“It was a great experience to be a part of this great event, an event the whole world is watching and also playing against the best football players in the world.

“At that moment you don’t realize but when it’s all over you realize you have played in a World Cup against some great players… I will cherish it for the rest of my life. [The goal against Bosnia] was also a great memory of course,” he added.

“It’s a goal no one can take away from you ever again. It’s nice to have that under your name. It’s a great feeling and something to be proud of.”

Ex-Iran captain

On June 11, 2006, Yahya Golmohammadi scored the equalizer in a 3-1 loss to Mexico in the opening round of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Yahya Golmohammadi is mostly remembered for his tears after scoring against the Republic of Ireland in the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA–AFC playoff).

He burst into tears after the final whistle in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium, since Team Melli failed to book a place in the 2002 World Cup because they had lost to the Greens 2-0 five days earlier in Dublin.

Former Team Melli defender

Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh, who was a member of Iran’s national football team in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, scored a goal against Angola in a 1-1 draw.

Iran’s Marco Polo

Dubbed as the successor of Ali Daei – the second top scorer in the world – Iranian footballer Karim Ansarifard is known as the Marco Polo owing to playing in 10 clubs over the past decade.

Ansarifard has changed several clubs after he left Saipa for Persepolis in season 2012/13. He joined, Tractorsazi, Osasuna, Persepolis, Panionios, Olympiakos, Nottingham Forest, Al Saliya, and Season AEK Athens, and in 2022 Cypriot First Division club Omonia.

Ansarifard will represent Iran in the FIFA World Cup for the third time. The 32-year-old forward was a member of Iran’s national football team in the 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cups.

Marco Polo scored a goal for Iran against Portugal in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The FIFA World Cup will take place in Qatar from 21 November to 18 December 2022.

The “Persian Leopards” in Group B of the tournament will face England, the US, and Wales.

Iran football team became the 14th team to book their place in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Moreover, the ‘Persian Leopards’ became the first Asian team to book their place in a major competition.

Iran, No. 21 in the current FIFA world rankings, will kick off the World Cup campaign in Qatar against fifth-ranked England on November 21.

Reported by Amin Mohammadzadegan Khoyi