On Thursday, Team Melli will be meeting Oman in Muscat for the leadership of Group D of the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers.

Carlos Queiroz is leading the team into this top of the table clash while leading the group on goals difference. Oman has been a stubborn opponent for Team Melli in the last few years. The Omanis had a tremendous progress in their standard and form in  last few decades. From the punching box of the region into title contenders , Oman has won the prestigious Gulf Cup in 2009 while they were the loosing finalist two years before in 2007. 

Coached by the Frenchman Paul Le Guen, Oman had a mixed bag of results lately. Their most disappointing being the draw against Guam , a match that the Omanis thought they have won before even the kick off! The team is a mix of experienced players headed by Captain Ali Al Habsi , the goalkeeper who played in the Top Flight of the English league and Emad Al Hosani, the player who scored a brace against Team Melli in Asian Cup 2004 in China, in addition to a group of younger players.

Abdulaziz Al-Muqbali, the 26 years old forward is a prolific scorer in the local league , but since his selection for the national team and his good start of his international career , he has been firing blank lately. Despite of disappointing misses against Guam , Oman has proven that it has many solutions in the offensive game despite the finishing being a shortcoming of the team.

Team Melli , will continue with the same game plan and it is not expected that Queiroz will largely touch the winning formula that won him 2 games out of 2 and scoring 9 goals in the process. The unfortunate recent demise of Ex-Team Melli forward and Persepolis Captain Hadi Nourozi might cast a shadow over the players, however that sad event has hyped some of the players to play for a win in memory of Nourozi.

The younger look of Queiroz team has won him much praise after his futile trust in the older players. Senior Players in the current squad have to work much harder now to win a place in the starting line up as Queiroz has created a good competition atmosphere between the players.

Most observers would expect a close game with a draw being the most popular predicted result. Team Melli however, is well capable of taking all the 3 points from Oman provided the finishing is of a high quality .