Team Melli continued the training sessions for the final game in Austria against Angola.

Despite the light injury to 4 players, none of which are serious , Queiroz is expected to field a strong team while giving some last thoughts on the short list of players that he has to drop.

Team Melli and Angola last met in the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany. The result was a 1-1 draw in which Iran went behind and the equalizer was scored by the defender Sohrab Bakhtiyarizadeh fron a header following a corner kick.

That was the one and only time that Angola qualified for the World Cup. Angola has not been very active since their last match in the World Cup qualifiers against Liberia which they won 3-0. In 2014 they played 2 matches only drawing 1-1 with Mozambique in March  while defeating Morocco 2-0 a few days back in Portugal.  It was a confidence boosting win against the African Cup of Nations host in 2015 and a win that will enhance the chances of Romeu Filemon’s side  to qualify for the finals of African premiere competition.

Goals from Bastos and Yano secured victory, while debutant goalkeeper Signori Antonio was in imperious form at the other end to preserve a clean sheet.

Angola was quite impressive on the counter attack as their second goal was a classic  of this strategy. The Iranian defense shall have a good match with the fast and lively Angolan attack especially the new player Portuguese-born striker Fredy.

Another star player of the match against Morocco was their debutant goalkeeper Signori Antonio who was in imperious form at the other end to preserve a clean sheet for Angola. It remains to be seen if the Iranian forward can break their fast and score again the impressive  Signori Antonio.
Goals is what every fan of Team Melli is looking forward to in this match. regardless of the status of the match , failing to score in 3 matches in a row threatens to develop into a physiological hurdle for the players. In Iran history , only once the team did not manage to score for three consecutive matches at the time when Ebrahimzadeh was a caretaker coach of Team Melli.