TEHRAN (Iran News) Team Melli will face Belgium, Egypt, and New Zealand in Group G.

Iran’s first match is against New Zealand on June 15 at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

Amir Ghalenoei’s side will also play Belgium on June 21 at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and Egypt on June 26 at the Lumen Field in Seattle.

The 2026 World Cup will be Iran’s 7th appearance in the sport’s biggest tournament.

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Team Iran are in Group B along with England, Wales and the U.S.

The Persians will start the prestigious campaign on Nov. 21 against Gareth Southgate’s England.

Iran will meet Wales on Nov. 25 and play the U.S. four days later.

Omid Ebrahimi, who suffered a groin injury on Thursday in the match against Nicaragua, is absent in the list.

Iran will play Tunisia ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Doha, Qatar in their last warm-up.

Iran squad:
Goalkeepers:
Alireza Beiranvand (Persepolis), Hossein Hosseini (Esteghlal), Payam Niazmand (Sepahan), Amir Abedzadeh (Ponferradina)

Defenders:
Ramin Rezaeian (Sepahan), Abolfazl Jalali (Esteghlal), Hossein Kananizadegan (Al Ahli SC), Shoja Khalilzadeh (Al Ahli SC), Mortza Pouraliganji (Persepolis), Majid Hosseini (Kayserispor), Sadegh Moharrami (Dinamo Zagreb), Milad Mohammadi (AEK), Ehsan Hajisafi (AEK)

Midfielders:
Saeid Ezatolahi (Vejle Boldklub), Ahmad Nourollahi (Shabab Al Ahli), Ali Karimi (Kayserispor), Rouzbeh Cheshmi (Esteghlal), Vahid Amiri (Persepolis), Mehdi Torabi (Persepolis), Alireza Jahanbakhsh (Feyenoord), Ali Gholizadeh (Charleroi), Saman Ghoddos (Brentford)

Forwards:
Sardar Azmoun (Bayer Leverkusen), Karim Ansarifard (Omonia), Mehdi Taremi (Porto)

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According To Iran News, Oman national team head coach Branko Ivankovic believes that Oman’s players have the talent needed to realize their dream of reaching the FIFA World Cup Finals for the first time.

The 65-year-old took charge of Oman in January, replacing Dutchman Erwin Koeman who parted ways with the West Asian side in December.

“The short period that I have worked with the national team was good but it was not enough to know all the players,” said Ivankovic in an interview with Oman Daily newspaper.

“Omani players have the necessary talents but I need more time in order to know how things will go.”

Oman is currently second in Group E of the Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023, just one point behind leader Qatar.

“I have great ambitions and I’m confident that I can lead Oman to the World Cup,” said Ivankovic. “We have a dream and football rewards whoever fights hard on the pitch.”

All football activities in Oman are suspended due to the COVID-19 and Ivankovic, who is in Croatia, said he is in constant communication with the Oman Football Association.

“I’m always getting in touch with the federation in Oman,” he said. “I’m waiting for the airports to open in order to return to the Sultanate and complete my job with the national team.”

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Beiranvand was named the hero after beating Park Ji-sung (Korea Republic), Sami Al Jaber (Saudi Arabia), Tim Cahill (Australia) and Keisuke Honda (Japan) in a poll run by the Asian Football Confederation.

The-afc.com has turned back the clock to highlight the achievements of five Asian players who have shone brightest on the global showpiece.

The winner was chosen by a panel of experts combined with the results of the public vote.

Carlos Queiroz’s Iran may have exited at the 2018 group stage, but it’s hard to argue the tournament wasn’t a success for Team Melli, while it’s equally difficult to contest that goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand wasn’t their star man.

The Persepolis shot-stopper shone as Iran edged past Morocco 1-0 in their opener and he then produced another string of excellent saves in a narrow 1-0 loss to Spain, when only a fortuitous Diego Costa goal got the better of the big custodian.

A goal down in their third game against Portugal, Iran conceded a penalty to hand Cristiano Ronaldo the chance to all but seal a place in the next round. In a moment Beiranvand would later describe as the biggest of his life, he dived to his left to deny one of the greatest players of all time and keep his country’s hopes alive.

Karim Ansarifard levelled in stoppage time before Mehdi Taremi missed a glorious chance to seal qualification to the Round of 16 for the first time. It was not to be for the Iranians, but Beiranvand departed Russia having left his mark on the world stage.

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According To Iran News, Over the years, the-AFC.com and its social media platforms have brought Asian football fans the biggest names from across the Continent as they share their insight and experience of the beautiful game, as well as indulging in some light-hearted humor.

With footballers and fans around the world currently staying home amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the-afc.com has gone back through the archives to select some of the best interviews from seasons gone by.

A FIFA World Cup winner, a record breaker from Hong Kong and IR Iran’s Number 1 all feature, as does plenty of fun involving players from Japan’s national team and India’s Bengaluru FC.

Alireza Beiranvand grabbed the headlines at the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 when the goalkeeper saved a Ronaldo penalty as the Islamic Republic of Iran pulled off a memorable 1-1 draw against Portugal.

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According To Iran News, Iran top-flight football club Nassaji Mazandaran completed the signing of former Iran goalkeeper Alireza Haghighi on Tuesday.

The 31-year-old keeper has most recently played for Swedish club Sundsvall.

He has penned a one-year contract with the Iranian club for an undisclosed fee.

Haghighi, who started his goalkeeping career in Iranian club Persepolis, was a member of Iran national football team in the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

He has also played in Russian club Rubin Kazan, Portuguese teams Sporting Covilha, Penafiel and Marítimo and Swedish club Eskilstuna.

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According To Iran News, Team Melli will host Cambodia in Tehran in Group C of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023.

Marc Wilmots’s team started the campaign with a 2-0 win away at Hong Kong on Matchday Two in Group C.

“It might look an easy match but we should not lose our concentration. We need three points against Cambodia. Sharing the spoils between Iraq and Bahrain was good for us in Matchday Two,” the Zenit St. Petersburg forward said.

“The expectations from Team Melli has raised. I hope we can win the match ahead of our fans,” he added.

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Yamamoto has been a full international for FIFA since 2011. He has refereed several matches in AFC Champions League.

Iran national football team will play against Hong Kong on Tuesday (September 10) to start their journey to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Marc Wilmots’s side will face the East Asian country in Group C of the Asian Qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup and the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.

The eight group winners and four best runners-up will advance to the AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Finals and the final round of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

The next best 24 teams from the second round of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining 12 slots in the 24-team AFC Asian Cup China 2023.

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“I had attended ELECOMP exhibition in 2014, but today I see many changes and I am glad to see startup companies at the exhibition. The areas of cooperation between Iran and Qatar include oil, gas, energy and food sectors, and we would like to expand relations in communication technology. In our turn, we invited our Iranian partners to the exhibition the be held in late October in Qatar,” he added.

“In regards to the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar, I can say that Qatar is expanding infrastructures for the event. I have seen many companies in the exhibition, which can help us. Cooperation in the field of ICT is very important. We face similar challenges and have similar plans for smart cities. There are relations at the governmental level, but we need to develop cooperation between private companies,” he said.

At a press conference during 25th ELECOMP exhibition, Iraqi Deputy Minister of Communications has commented on CT and electronic trade prospects with Iraq and other countries and spoke about Iran’s participation in Iraq’s mobile programs.

“We open the door for cooperation with Iran, we have ties with Jordan and want to expand cooperation with other neighboring countries, as Iraq conducts open door policy. We are just at the beginning of the IT road and need a lot of help to make the progress,” said the Iraqi official.

In total, representatives of 800 companies from 40 countries are participating in the ELECOMP exhibition.

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Any hope Syria had of a comeback were dashed in the 57th minute as Taremi scored his second of the night for Asia’s top-ranked team, who made the semi-finals of the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019.

Taremi, however, was not done as he completed his hat-trick in the 77th minute and Allahyar Sayyadmanesh completed the win with his strike just before the final blow of the referee’s whistle.

Both teams are preparing for the second round of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup 2023 Joint Qualification which kicks off in September but Iran were in a class of their own as new head coach Marc Wilmots got off to a winning start.

Next up for Iran is an enticing friendly with South Korea in Seoul on Tuesday. Korea will play Australia in a friendly in Busan on Friday.

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