Iran 1-0 Uruguay: Mehdi Taremi’s goal sees England’s World Cup foes send Gareth Southgate’s side a stern warning as they defeat a star-studded Uruguayan side that includes Darwin Nunes and Luis Suarez in a friendly
- Iran defeated Uruguay in a friendly before the next World Cup
- Porto striker Mehdi Taremi secured victory with a second-half goal
- The team will play one more friendly before the World Cup premiere with England
Iran, England’s first opponent in the World Cup group stage, showed that Gareth Southgate’s players face a tough challenge in 58 days as they beat a strong Uruguay side.
Center forward Mehdi Taremi, a constant threat for several years at Porto, scored the winning goal after a deft pass that epitomized Iranian technical ability.
Brentford’s Saman Ghoddos, who has had no Premier League playing time this season, also stood out.
Porto striker Mehdi Taremi scored to give Iran a shock victory over Uruguay
Carlos Queiroz’s men will only play one more friendly before facing England in the World Cup
He had passed a ball over Martín Cáceres to shoot out from the right and executed a deft return pass that left-footed striker Mehdi Torabi should have scored before starting the goal play.
Sadegh Moharramim, the right-back who stood out for Dinamo Zagreb in blocking England internationals Raheem Sterling during their 1-0 Champions League win over Chelsea last month, connected well with Feyenoord’s Alireza Jahanbakhsh on the right. . This was the flank where Iran posed a threat.
Returning coach Carlos Quieiroz also appears to have restored the defensive prowess that has made the Iranians hard to stomach in World Cups.
Luis Suárez was one of the great names of the Uruguay team that failed to score against Iran.
Hossein Kanaani was a huge influence, combining with Moharramim to remove a chance from Darwin Nunez and going toe-to-toe with Suarez after a dispute.
Uruguay should have scored. Suarez, who is back playing club football in Uruguay with Nacional, doesn’t bring the old physical threat, but took a chance that he narrowly deflected and sent another over the crossbar. An early 20-yard effort by Nunez was deflected in a game played behind closed doors at the request of the Iranian FA.
With the USA’s terrible performance in a 2-0 loss to Japan in Düsseldorf yesterday, Iran ended the night with renewed self-confidence that they can qualify from the group of England and Wales. That is certainly the expectation at home.
