The match on Monday against Uzbekistan will be the stepping stone for Qualification to FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia. Team Melli needs the 3 points to qualify with two matches in hand however; it will be facing a tough and none-yielding opponent who has aspirations of their own.
Since the independence of Uzbekistan from the Soviet Union back in 1991 , Iran and Uzbekistan played 7 matches with Iran winning 5 and the Uzbek one only. Ironically, that solitary win for Uzbekistan was registered in Azadi stadium.
Apart from the first ever encounter between the two teams during the Asian Games 1998 in Bangkok, where Iran trounced Uzbekistan 4-0 , the rest of the matches were mostly quite close affairs with one goal difference. In the current qualification rounds of World Cup, both teams started strongly with Uzbekistan being perfect after 2 matches, Iran stuttering against China. The teams then met in Tashkent on matchday 3
Jalal Hosseini scored the only goal of the match and thus Iran never looked back with Uzbekistan playing catch up in the next 4 rounds.
In Matchday 8, even if Uzbekistan wins, it cannot catch Iran up but it will be a tremendous boost for the central Asian nation towards clinching on of the spots for the qualifiers.
Team News Iran
Iran played a friendly game away to Montenegro at the end of a 10 days training camp held in Austria. Despite the host nation’s control on majority of the possession , Team Melli managed to defeat the European opponent 2-1 with a brace from the resurgent Sardar Azmoun. It is important to mention that half of Team Melli players were not available or not used for that match.
Injury List Iran
With all the players available, Queiroz continued the camp in Tehran with his full contingent. The only scare was Ashkab Dejagah , but now he is fully recoverd from Injury.
Team news Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan preparation culminated in a friendly match against Thailand in Bunyodkor stadium “, Tashkent. With Iranian analyst in presence to note the Uzbek team game plan, the Head coach of Uzbekistan Samvel Babayan fielded a weakened team in the hope of misleading the Iranian analysts. However, Uzbekistan played poorly and the crowds were disappointed by the form of their team while Thailand was simply content with clearing the ball.
Despite that , the most best chances of scoring were created by the guests who are in foot of the table in their qualifying group and has lost all chances of qualifying.
Much changed after the break after substitutions were made. Samvel Babayan returned the team to full strength and finally won that match 2-0. There was causality in this match as midfielder Marat Bikmaev was injured and was forced to leave in the 52nd minute of the game
Injury List Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan Attacking midfielder Marat Bikmaev will miss the match due to injury. The “Locomotive” midfielder sustain injury in a friendly match versus Thailand (2-0), the player was forced to leave in the 52nd minute of the game
According to the preliminary results of the medical examination, Marat Bikmaev will not have time to recover to the qualifying round match against Iran. In addition, another player Davron Hashimov, will also miss the match in Iran due to injury.
Earlier it was reported that due to injuries, the following players could not be available for matches against Thailand and Iran : Vitali Denisov (Lokomotiv Moscow), Islom Tukhtakhodzhaev (Lokomotiv Tashkent) and Alexander Merzlyakov (Kokand-1912).
It is not clear if any of the above will recover in time for the Monday Match.
[frame]IRAN vs. UZBEKISTAN[/frame]
| Venue | Matches | W | D | L | Goals | + / – |
| Home | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 – 1 | -1 |
| Away | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 – 0 | +3 |
| Neutral | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 – 1 | +5 |
| Total | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 9 – 2 | +7 |
Injury List
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