Goals on both sides again?
Coach Rob Page’s side picked up a point in their opening match thanks to a 1-1 draw against the “Soccer Boys” from the USA and celebrated a thoroughly successful return to the World Cup stage after an absence of no less than 64 years.
The Iranians were clearly beaten 6-2 by England in their opening match, conceding as many goals in one game as they have conceded in total in the past two World Cups (two in 2014 & four in 2018).
Between Wales and Iran, the forecast for the match at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan includes a two-sided goal celebration.
Wales – Statistics & current form
The “Dragons” only punched their ticket to the World Cup in Qatar in the play-offs against Ukraine. The decisive goal in the 1-0 win was scored by Gareth Bale and the attacker was on target again in the recent 1-1 draw with the USA – albeit only from the penalty spot.
Bale, who arrived as the hero of LAFC’s recent title triumph and a last-minute goal in extra time to send his team into the ensuing penalty shoot-out, is clearly the most potent weapon in the attack of the 19th-ranked team in the world.
New goal by Bale?
With this in mind, it’s just as easy to predict his next goal in the clash between Wales and Iran. This is also supported by the fact that Harry Wilson would normally also be a powerful attacking player, but the Fulham striker will need a little more competitive practice to get close to his maximum performance.
Due to a long injury lay-off, he has only played seven games for the Cottagers this Premier League season and barely the majority of those as part of the starting eleven.
However, there are no two opinions about his abilities: Wilson was instrumental in the Londoners’ return to the British top flight last season with ten goals and 19 assists.
Wales can also take heart from the second half of their opening match against the USA: after a slow start, Wales showed a noticeable improvement in the second half of the match.
Moore made the difference last time
One positive factor was the substitution of Kieffer Moore after the break. The 26-year-old from Bournemouth, despite only being on the pitch for one half, ended up with the most involvement in Welsh shots on goal – two attempts of his own on the opposition box and one chance set-up.
Welsh’s statistics now show only draws in group matches, as all three games in this phase of the competition also ended in draws when they took part in 1958.
Predicted Wales line-up:
Hennessey – Rodon – Davies – Mepham – Roberts – Ampadu – Ramsey – Williams – James – Bale – Wilson
Last matches played by Wales:
World Cup Group B
22/11/2022 – USA 1 – 1 Wales
UEFA Nations League A Grp. 4
26/09/2022 – Wales 0 – 1 Poland
23/09/2022 – Belgium 2 – 1 Wales
15/06/2022 – Netherlands 3 – 2 Wales
12/06/2022 – Wales 1 – 1 Belgium
Iran – Statistics & current form
That there is more to Iran than football was evident in their first match against England, when the starting team collectively refused to sing their own anthem as an expression of solidarity with the continuing simmering political protests in Iran.
At first it seemed that the Iranian national team had also planned a refusal to play on the pitch, as the match against the “Three Lions” was already 3-0 to Iran after the first half.
However, this was not the case – at least two goals were conceded to the favourites from the island.
Both goals came from Mehdi Taremi, albeit one from the penalty spot. The Porto attacker confirmed his very good form at club level this season.
The 30-year-old scored six goals and set up five in 13 appearances for Porto in the Portugal Liga. Taremi has also really turned up the heat in the Champions League with five goals in as many appearances.
Will Taremi strike again?
Only Zlatko Zahovic scored more goals for Porto in a top flight group stage in 1998/99 (7). In light of this, the odds on his next goal in the match between Wales and Iran are also worth considering.
The prediction is supported on top by the fact that Alireza Jahanbakhsh, who like Taremi scored four goals during the World Cup qualifiers, is currently somewhat out of form.
The fact that he has not yet scored for his employers Feyenoord Rotterdam this season shows that Taremi’s form is much more stable.
Furthermore, goalkeeper Beiranvand was injured in the opening match and was replaced by Hossein Hosseini, who will now be back in charge of coach Carlos Queiroz’s team.
Predicted line-up of Iran:
Hosseini – Cheshmi – Moharrrami – Hosseini – Mohammadi – Karimi – Noorallahi -Hajsafi – Taremi – Pouraliganji – Jahanbakhsh
Last matches played by Iran:
World Cup Group B
21/11/2022 – England 6 – 2 Iran
Friendlies
16/11/2022 – Iran 0 – 2 Tunisia
10/11/2022 – Iran 1 – 0 Nicaragua
27/09/2022 – Senegal 1 – 1 Iran
23/09/2022 – Iran 1 – 0 Uruguay
Wales – Iran Direct comparison / H2H balance
This is the second time that Wales and Iran have met. The first time they met was in Tehran in April 1978 – that friendly ended in a 1-0 Welsh victory courtesy of a goal from Philip Dwyer, who passed away around a year ago
Wales – Iran Tip
Wales will take part in a finals for the second time since 1958. After an opening draw against the USA, the Welsh are now hoping for their first World Cup win. For the showdown between Wales and Iran, however, the tip is for goals on both sides.
The Iranians have shown a very shaky defence with their 2:6 against England and this is not a new pattern: in their 16 World Cup games so far, they have picked up only two clean sheets and conceded an average of 1.9 goals per game.
On the other hand, the two goals by Taremi in the last match against England proved that the underdogs have quality on the offensive.
In addition to the aforementioned double scorer from Porto, players such as Sardar Azmoun of Leverkusen (joint top scorer with Taremi during the World Cup qualifiers with six goals in ten appearances) can also be described as powerful in attack.
Furthermore, the Welsh have not won in six international matches and have been vulnerable defensively, with only one of those games not resulting in goals on either side.
Furthermore, Wales will be on the offensive: Only a win against the supposedly weakest team in Group B will realistically give them a chance of reaching the last 16. A match plan that suggests an open game with numerous scoring opportunities on both sides.
