Tehran: Mehdi Taremi is right on target when Iran confirmed their place in the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar with a 1-0 victory over Iraq at Azadi Stadium in Tehran on Thursday.
Porto Forward Taremi scored the winner after 48 minutes to send Iran to the World Cup final for the sixth time, and third in a row.
Iran was unbeaten in the third stage of qualification, after winning six of their seven matches, a draw against South Korea.
Tim Melli consolidated their position above the table group with 19 points, two points in front of South Korea.
They extended their unbeaten run because Croatia’s head coach Dragan Skocic took over in February 2020, with 11 wins and one draw.
On Thursday, they recorded their second victory over Iraq on the road to Qatar 2022.
Iraq fought for momentum and failed to break the famous Iranian defense, with the host who was clearly the dominant side in front of their home fans.
Taremi, who just arrived in Tehran on Thursday, took Alireza Jahanbaksh helped after the break send a right foot shot from inside the box.
Both teams were hit by the absence of players following a positive test for Covid-19.
Sardar Azmun, who played at Bayer Leverkusen FC, was among the five missing Iranian players, along with eight Iraqi players.
Iran has played in the World Cup Five five times in the past – in 1978, 1998, 2006, 2014 and 2018 – while the last participation of Iraq and the only one in Mexico 1986.
Iran never exceeded the group stage in the tournament.