England face Iran in their opening World Cup clash, and any England fans may be forgiven for not knowing too much about the Three Lions’ first opponents.
Fulham fans may be familiar with Ashkan Dejagah as perhaps the most famous Iranian to play in the Premier League, while Alireza Jahanbakhsh made a minimal impact at Brighton aside from a bicycle kick against Chelsea.
Beyond that, English football fans may not know too much about Iran or even whether they’ve played at a World Cup before, so with that in mind, we’re going to take a little look at Iran’s history on this stage.
Have Iran played at the World Cup before?
Iran have played at the World Cup in the past!
The Asian outfit have in fact played at three of the last four tournaments, failing to progress through the Group Stages on each occasion.
Iran did actually manage to win a game at the 2018 edition of the World Cup, beating Morocco 1-0, but their most famous moment came against Spain at that tournament.
Indeed, Milad Mohammadi made himself an immediate World Cup cult hero when attempting a somersault throw-in in the last minute of a 1-0 defeat against Spain.
Iran’s loss to Spain was followed up by a hearty draw against Portugal, but unfortunately, four points wasn’t enough to see them through this group.
Their only other World Cup win came against the USA in 1998, and with these two set to face-off once again in Qatar, Iran will be hoping for a repeat result.
Iran also appeared at the 1978 World Cup, but they also failed to get out of their group on that occasion. However, England fans may be quick to note that they did manage to earn a 1-1 draw against Scotland – a result that condemned the Scots to, yet another, first-round exit.
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