Korea Rep. defeated  Uzbakistan 1-0 scored by any own goal by the Uzbek defender  Ahmadov, This result augurs well for Team Melli provided they beat Lebanon in an hour from now.

With two hours left to kick off, an estimated 20,000 fans are in Azadi stadium. Although this is disappointing , Iranian fans have a habit of turning up in the last minute. Queiroz and his players have demanded a 100,000 fans support in Azadi to support the team.

On the eve of the match, Andranik Teymourian received a bad news from his club. Al Kharatiyat , the QSL of Qatar has replaced Ando with a Nigerian-Bahrain player Jessi John. Teymourian hence is not part of that Qatari team and he will be available for transfer back to Iran.