Soccer-Iran at the World Cup

FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - International Friendly - Iran v Uruguay - NV Arena, St Poelten, Austria - September 23, 2022 Iran players pose for a team group photo before the match REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

(Reuters) - Following is a statbox on Iran at the World Cup.

FIFA Ranking: 20

Odds: 500-1

Previous tournaments:

Iran have reached their third World Cup in a row but have yet to move beyond the group phase. They first qualified in 1978 and also featured in 1998 and 2006 before appearing in 2014 and 2018. Four years ago in Russia was their best performance, when a win over Morocco and a draw with Portugal saw them narrowly miss out on a place in the knockout rounds.

How they qualified

Iran dominated Group A of Asia's final round of preliminaries, topping their group by two points ahead of South Korea. Led by Dragan Skocic, Team Melli lost just once, a 2-0 defeat by the Koreans when qualification was already secured.

Form guide

Carlos Queiroz was reappointed head coach in September as a replacement for Skocic and since the return of the Portuguese the Iranians have notched up a 1-0 win over Uruguay and a 1-1 draw with Senegal during a training camp in Austria.

(Reporting by Michael Church; Editing by Ken Ferris)