Carlos Queiroz is once again meeting his nemesis, Aliou Cissé, and the national football team of Senegal, the team that deprived him of lifting the African Nations Cup and the qualification for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, while he was the head coach of Egypt.

After the confidence-boosting win by Team Melli, Queiroz’s men are looking for another good result against the African champion on Tuesday to complete what is the ideal preparation schedule for the World Cup under difficult conditions. Queiroz knows Senegal quite well by now and must be desperate to beat them this time as coach of Iran. Senegal is looking to score a hat trick against the Portuguese coach to add insult to his injury.

Both those defeats by penalty kicks were bitter for the Egyptians fans and even worst for Queiroz himself. Undoubtedly, if these two defeats against Senegal did not occur, Queiroz would still be the head coach of the Egyptian national team and cruising the Nile on his days off. That’s why the game against Senegal has a different flavor and color for Queiroz, and unlike the game against Uruguay, it is a complete revenge game for the coach. However, for Team Melli, it is considered yet another preparatory game against strong opposition where a win really means nothing except for alerting the likes of England and its media, not to underestimate Team Melli. A good performance and a win would surely jolt the other two teams in the group USA and Wales.

Senegal under the capable coach Aliou Cissé and stars such as Saido Mane,  Kalidou Koulibaly (captain,), Idrissa Gueye and Cheikhou Kouyaté will be looking to win against Iran to consolidate its claim for qualifying out of the group in the FIFA World Cup. It will not be a simple practice match as Aliou Cissé will field his strongest team.

All Senegal players play outside the country with no local domestic league player expected to make the final roster for the World Cup.

Iran and Senegal met only once before in Azadi Stadium in April 2009. The match ended 1-1 .
Mehrzad MADANCHI scored Iran’s goal.