When Team Melli kicks off the opening match in St. Petersburg against Morocco on June 15th, all eyes will be focused on Sardar Azmoun. Majority of websites and sport media profiling and analyzing Group B of this FIFA World Cup 2018 competition, single out the Rubin Kazan’s forward Azmoun as Iran’s best hope and the star player.
Of course, this is a compliment to the 22 years old who has an outstanding scoring record at international level and at such a young age. Azmoun could very well end up as the single most influential player in Team Melli and deservedly so. However, based on statistics and form, the Rubin Kazan forward is a distant third or even fourth in Team Melli top performers of the season.
The top performer accolade goes for Alireza Jahanbakhsh , the brilliant AZ Alkamaar winger who has topped the Dutch league scorers chart, thus becoming the first ever Asian Player to do so in a major European league. An exceptional prospect and an all-round player, Jahanbakhsh can supplement Sardar Azmoun in the front but he is also well capable of outdoing Team Melli’s main striker and grabbing all the glory. The 24 years old Jahanbakhsh has what it takes to beat the Spanish and Portuguese defenses. He scored 21 goals for Alkamaar this season which is 10 more goals than his tally for last season.
On the other hand, Azmoun has scored only 5 goals for Rubin Kazan this season. He never hit double figure in scoring at club level in his professional career, a far cry from his record at Team Melli level which has a stunning 23 goals in 32 matches.
Two more plyers have better records than Sardar too. Karim Ansarifard, Olympiakos Piraeus striker who has scored an impressive tally of 17 goals in the Greek league, and Heerenveen forward, Reza Ghoochannejad who has scored 9 goals in the Dutch league, both have better return in the leagues than Iran’s golden boy Azmoun.
Although it is difficult to compare the league form to those at the highest level of football, as the World Cup definitely is, Alireza Jahanbakhsh’s impressive season and ability cannot be overlooked and the chances of him outshining his teammate is absolutely a possibility.
What all that means for Carlos Queiroz at the end of the day, is that he is spoiled for choices up front. Now if he can only sort out his fragile back line.
