Iran – Portugal

We are taking out attention to Group B of the FIFA World Cup in Russia, where Iran and Portugal meet in a direct clash for reaching the 1/8-finals of the competition. We are about to examine this bout in our winning soccer predictions for today.

The situation in this group is pretty simple – Portugal have 4 points from the first two rounds, while Iran have 3. In other words – even a draw would be enough for Portugal to reach the knockout phase, while Iran do not have any other choice, but to aim for the win.

Of course, we don’t expect to see the Portuguese team defending deep and playing for a draw. This would be extremely dangerous, even if it is against Iran. The European champion is a heavy favourite against Team Melli, but don’t be too quick to write Iran off in this clash.

Although they do not have the reputation of a force in football, Iran are a very disciplined and tactically aware team under the management of Carlos Querioz. Team Melli have conceded just one goal from the beginning of the tournament – against Spain. They are defending very well since the beginning of the World Cup, but now they will have a serious test against Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates.

It’s been an exciting World Cup for Portugal so far. Selecao started their participation with a spectacular 3-3 draw against Spain, which was followed by a difficult, but very important 1-0 win over Morocco. Far from surpising, all of Portugal’s four goals in the competition so far were scored by the team’s captain Cristiano Ronaldo. The current Ballon d’Or holder is performing in a fantastic way and he’s fighting for the tournament’s Golden Boot award. Right now he has 4 goals, but he’s one goal behind England’s captain Harry Kane. But Ronaldo is a player who loves to be challenged. Be sure that he won’t give up of scoring more and more, as long as Portugal are a part of the World Cup.

Iran’s manager Carlos Querioz have some problems before the clash. The defender Ehsan Hajsafi, who plays for the Greek Olympiakos, could miss the clash because of an injury. If Hajsafi is not ready to play, then most probably he’s going to be replaced by Milad Mohammadi.

AS Monaco’s veteran midfielder Joao Moutinho is the man under a doubt from the Portugal’s camp. The experienced maestro missed the last few training session of Selecao because of an illness. The good news for the manager Fernando Santos come from the recovery of Raphael Guerreiro, who is ready to participate once again for the European champion.

If Iran have any kind of advantage over Portugal in this game, it shall be their head coach Carlos Querioz. The Portuguese tactician is well aware of Portugal’s system. He even coached the team during the 2010 World Cup, when they reached the 1/8-finals. You shall not doubt that Querioz is fully able to build a strategy for his team to oppose Cristiano Ronaldo and the other stars in Portugal’s squad. The only question is – can they do it?

These are our winning soccer predictions for today for the World Cup game between Iran and Portugal. Many people didn’t believe that right now Iran would have any chances to progress. But it’s a fact – if they win, they will be among the best teams in the competition at the 1/8-finals. Portugal on the other hand will try to win the group and beat Spain for the first place. But in order to do it, they need a solid win against the Team Melli.