IR Iran was the first Asian team and the second country to qualify for Russia 2018 after beating Uzbekistan in Tehran back in June 2017. Thanks to former Real Madrid and Portugal coach, Carlos Queiroz, the country will be present at the FIFA World Cup for the second time in a row.
The 64-year-old has been in charge since 2011 and is hoping for a successful campaign for Team Melli despite being drawn with Spain, Portugal and Morocco in Group B. Carlos Queiroz got the opportunity to speak on the forthcoming challenges for his team at a two-day Team Seminar held by FIFA in Sochi for the participating nations in the upcoming World Cup.
“We want to get through to the second round, but that obviously going to be a very difficult task.
“Everyone’s agreed that we’re in the hardest group at the World Cup, as we’ll be coming up against two title contenders in Spain and Portugal.
"However, our duty is to go and improve on past performances and to keep making progress, not just at Russia 2018 but at the upcoming Asian competitions and the next World Cup qualifiers," Queiroz told FIFA.com.
“The objective is to go through to the knockout phase, though we need to prepare the right way if we want to do that.”
Iran will kick-off their Russia 2018 campaign against Morocco on June 15. They will subsequently meet Spain and Portugal on June 20 and June 25, respectively.
