Team Melli will be battling for survival in today’s match against bottom team Yemen. In the last group B match of the 7th WAFF championship currently being held in Kuwait, Team Melli is in a desperate position and fighting for survival as a win by two goals or better is required in this match for Iran to have a chance to head the group. However , a win is not a guarantee for qualification as the other group match between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain need to end in a draw for Iran to qualify. The two matches are being played at the same time.

A win by any of the 2 teams in today’s other group match will spell the end of Iran’s participation in this edition of the tournament and the elimination from group stages would mean the worst ever result for the Iran , which has dominated this competition since its inception.

Iran has won 4 out of the six tournaments , only Iraq and Kuwait managed one championship each. The latter is the defending champion.

Carlos Queiroz and Omid Namazi have exhausted all their resources and there is no more tricks up their sleeves for today’s match against Yemen. Despite the strengthening of the team by introducing two established Team Melli players , Pejman Montazeri and Ehsan Hajsafy , the team failed to break the defenses of 10 man Bahrain in the last match despite controlling the match especially in the second half. Team Melli has failed to score a goal in its third consecutive match in an official competition.

It is expected that the coaches will be playing with two forwards for maximum  offensive game play in a desperate hope of ending the goal drought. Mehrdad Ouladi and Ahmad Hassanzadeh should be playing up front although the latter revived a slight knock in the last match. Payam Sadeghian is another option to partner Ouladi up front.

The rest of the line up should not be much different from the last match and Yaghoub Karimi, and Omid Ebrahimi two of the better players in this tournament , should keep their places for the match.