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Group D, Mexico - Iran
Stadium: Easy Credit, Nuremberg.
For Mexico, these will be the thirteenth World Cup, and so far the country's best result was reaching the quarterfinals. This was achieved by the national team in 1970 and 1986, when the championships took place in Mexico. In recent appearances in the championships, the Mexicans have shown the stability of a team that competes well because in the last four World Cup tournaments, the national team has reached at least the second stage, and in the last eight group matches, Mexico has not lost a single game.
Such were the recent performances of the team, while in the earlier championships, Mexico did poorly and even acquired an unpleasant title - the national team with the most losses in the history of the championship. The entire Mexico national team is currently "directed" by Argentine coach Ricardo La Volpe. And although some of the coach's decisions, such as not inviting Cuauhtemoc Blanco to the team or including his son in the lineup, caused a lot of noise in Mexico, it must be admitted that the strategist is doing a good job. The coach easily led the team to the World Cup, and in 2005, the team he led shone in the Confederations Cup tournament. Discipline is very important for the coach - recently, during a meeting with the team, R. La Volpe stated that he would not tolerate any complaints about the lineup.
Despite deep football traditions in the country, this will only be Iran's third appearance in the World Cup. So far, the Iranians have played in the championships in 1978 and 1998. The last attempt was successful for the team, as Iran won its only victory so far, beating the United States team 2-1. In the match against the Mexicans, Iran has the opportunity to break a tradition - so far, the national team has not scored a goal in the first match of the championship.
Without a doubt, team coach Branko Ivankovic would also like to break the tradition. The taste of victory in such high-ranking matches the strategist has already felt - in 1998, as an assistant coach of the Croatian national team, B. Ivankovic led Croatia to the semifinals of the championship.
Team news
Mexico
Good news for the Mexican team that starting goalkeeper O. Sanchez will probably be able to play against Iran in the match. There were doubts about the player's future in the national team after unexpectedly losing his father on Wednesday. The footballer left Germany and flew back to Mexico. The whole team received this news very sensitively and left the decision to O. Sanchez. However, it seems that the player found his psychological strength and will be able to help the team - the player has already returned from Mexico and joined the team again. So far, O. Sanchez has been included in the line-up of the last two championships, but has not played a single minute, as he has taken the position of the second goalkeeper.
Therefore, the Mexicans are determined and will seek victory. According to defender Luis Perez, the first match is very important, as it is important to win the first games of the tournament. A victory would allow Mexico to take a big step towards the next stage.
Iran
Meanwhile, Iran will have to do without Fereydoon Zandi, who has not yet recovered from his injury and will not appear in the match. Iran can at least be happy that the main organizers of the game - Ali Karimi and Mehdi Mahdavikia - have already recovered from their injuries. With their help, Iran is ready to prove that they did not come to Germany just to make up the numbers. Especially since the players are optimistic and are not inclined to miss this opportunity. The players' determination can be further strengthened by the fact that the president of the Iran Football Federation, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, promised undisclosed rewards to those players who manage to score a winning goal.
As one of their advantages, Iran's national team captain Ali Daei describes the fantastic team spirit and determination of the players. All that remains is to hope that the great mood in the club will not be spoiled by the fact that Iran's coach B. Ivankovic announced his resignation from the coaching position immediately after Iran's last matches at the World Cup. The main reason the strategist cited was frequent and very annoying media criticism.
"During my four years of work in the national team, I received a lot of criticism for player selection or tactics. Even if we advance to the next stage, the press would still criticize me." - said the coach.
The coach does not place much importance on the ratings of different teams: "Ratings do not determine anything. We will try to adapt to the opponents' tactics. In my team, players must know the strengths and weaknesses of their opponents." - said B. Ivankovic.
Qualification for the championship
The Mexican national team secured their place in the championship by finishing first in the CONCACAF regional qualifiers. Mexico also became the most prolific team in the region, scoring 22 goals in just ten matches.
Similarly, Iranian footballers did well, finishing second in Group B of the Asian qualifying zone, only behind Japan.
Friendly matches
Before the World Cup, Mexico played six friendly matches and won four of them. However, the defeated opponents were not world-class teams: they beat Ghana and Venezuela 1-0, outperformed Paraguay 2-1, and conquered Congo by the same score. However, it was more difficult for Mexico to succeed against tougher opponents: they lost 1-0 to France and suffered a 2-1 defeat in Eindhoven against the Netherlands.
Iran played three preparation matches and showed quite good results by beating Costa Rica, which is also participating in the championship, 3-2, and crushing Bosnia and Herzegovina 5-2. The only match that B. Ivankovic's coached team could not win was against his former team - Iran played 2-2 against Croatia.
Head-to-head matches
So far, the teams have played only one head-to-head match, which adds even more intrigue to this match. In the match that took place in the summer of 2001, the Mexicans were victorious, winning 2-1.
Predicted lineups
Mexico: Sanchez, Salcido, Pineda, Marquez, Osorio, Castro, Torrado, Naelson, Pardo, Borgetti, Franco.
Iran: Mirzapour, Kaebi, Rezaei, Golmohammadi, Nosrati, Mahdavikia, Nekounam, Teymoorian, Hashemian, Karimi, Daei.
