South Korea - Iran, Picks and Tips
The national team, which is led from the field by Tottenham's Heung-min Son, is certain of a place at the 2022 World Cup. They are unbeaten in Group A of the Asian preliminaries and in eight games have recorded six wins and two draws. It has conceded just two goals and scored 11 times. In its last two official matches, South Korea has had to cope without its star player. It did, winning each time without conceding a goal. They won 1-0 away in Lebanon, then again 2-0 away in Syria. The last time Son was on the pitch wearing his national team jersey was 16 November 2021, and the South Koreans were winning against Iraq, 3-0, in a match played in Doha. Incidentally, Son scored the second goal, from the spot.
Iran is going to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup. It will be their fifth appearance, after 1978, 1998, 2006 and 2014. Iran's national team is now coached by Portugal's Carlos Queiroz, who is unbeaten in Asian football preliminaries. The Iranians have won seven of their eight matches. One of the most valuable players is also the top scorer in the preliminaries. He is Liverpool winger Mehdi Taremi, who has scored four of his country's 12 goals. He is followed in the rankings by his team-mate Alireza Jahanbakhsh, a former Brighton player and current Feyenoord player, with three. Leverkusen striker Sardar Azmoun is the most valuable player in Iran's squad, valued on the transfer market at €25 million. He scored twice in the qualifiers for Iran. Iran's last official match was on 1 February 2022. They won 1-0 at home against the United Arab Emirates. The only goal of the match was scored by Taremi. Earlier, Iran had beaten Iraq by the same score, 1-0, in which the winning goal was scored by the same Taremi. For Iran, after the match in South Korea, the last match of the preliminaries will follow. It will meet Lebanon at home in a similarly low-stakes match.
Our recommendation tip for South Korea - Iran: DRAW @ 3.00