At 22:30 Beijing time on January 27, the 7th round of the World Preliminary Round of 12 in the Asian Zone, with Taremi's goal, Iran defeated Iraq 1-0. Iran not only returned to the top of Group A, but also qualified for the World Cup three rounds in advance, becoming the first Asian team to advance to Qatar.
Iran ranks 21st in the world and 1st in Asia; Iraq is 75th in the world and 9th in Asia, and the gap between the two teams is still obvious.
In the first half, Iran was unscored, and the two teams played 0-0. Easy side to fight again, the skilled Iran suddenly broke out, in the 47th minute Jahanbash sent a precise straight plug, returning to the national team Taremi single-handed push to break the goal, Iran finally broke the deadlock on the field, 1-0 lead.
In the 73rd minute, Golizad grabbed the point and then went down, but unfortunately he was offside before receiving the ball, and the goal was cancelled. The rest of the time, the two sides did not achieve anything, and finally Iran laughed 1-0 to the end, steadily scoring 3 points. Throughout the game, Iran can be said to be crushed, with a possession rate of up to 58%, and the shot is 21-10 far ahead.
Iran has also written a number of records: First, they have defeated Iraq three times in a row, including a two-legged double in the round of 12. Second, Iran won three consecutive wins while going unbeaten in seven consecutive rounds, winning 6 and drawing 19 points. Third, Iran became the first Asian team to qualify for the World Cup. Fourth, for the first time in the history of the Iranian team, it has participated in the World Cup for three consecutive times.
This 1-0 also profoundly affected the situation in Group A. The winning Iran returned to the top position, South Korea was squeezed to no. 2, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon retained the 3rd and 4th, and the losing Iraq lost the qualification for direct promotion three rounds earlier, and the fate of the 5 teams was rewritten.
With Iran advancing three rounds ahead of schedule, the World Cup has produced 14 participating teams, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, France, Spain and England have all entered the finalists, and the Netherlands and Croatia have also successfully qualified, but Italy, Uruguay and Portugal are still struggling.