Team Melli will meet Syria on Tuesday in the hope of extending its lead in the group ahead of Korea and Uzbekistan who will be meeting an hours earlier in Seoul World Cup Stadium.
The FIFA World Cup 2018 Qualifiers will reach the halfway line at the end of this round.
War-torn Syria has elected Malaysia as the home base, which is indeed a poor choice in hindsight, according to coach Ayman Hakeem. However , the Syrian team has had a relative success in results and managed to draw with South Korea, win against Qatar and narrowly lose to Uzbekistan and Qatar.
On the other hand Team Melli is enjoying the view from the top after 3 wins and a draw. Despite the low number of goals tally of average of 1 goal per game, the defence has not been penetrated yet after 4 games. On paper , it is highly unlikely that Syrian forwards who only manged to score 1 goal in the competition so far, will test the solid Iranian defence despite the fact that Iran is missing its number 1 goalkeeper Biranvand due to Injury.
With 3 key outfield players missing , including the prolific forward Sardar Azmoun , Iran will not be enjoying the supremacy of the last few matches up front, but that is far from the team being handicapped. Both Reza Ghoochannejad and Karim Ansarifard , playing in European leagues, have been outstanding for their clubs and are in top form. The duo scored 5 of the 8 goals in Team Melli last match against Papua New guinea, with Gucci scoring his first ever hat trick at international level.
Historically , Iran rules supreme in the head to head matches.winning 13 of the 23 matches while losing only once and that was back in 1973.
Despite the impressive figures for Iran, Syria has never been the punching bag and always remains a tough competition at all levels. This current Syrian squad is no exception and could very well spring a surprise and against the form. The battle between the groups worst attackers (Syria) and the best defender (Iran) will hardly see a floodgate opening. Syria has a solid defense too and coach Ayman Hakeem will be looking to some rapid counter attacks in the hoping of getting all the 3 points.
Ayman Hakeem, Syria
“This is a very difficult game. Iran is a strong team and in very good form at the moment. We can see that it is not easy to score goals against them, as they are well-organised.
“We need to keep to our game plan and then we can get a good result. We will have to be at our best and work hard for each other. All these games in this stage are very difficult but we have shown that we have our own strengths too and we have managed to produce some good results”
Carlos Queiroz, Iran
“From a tactical aspect, it is not easy to come and play in Malaysia but in respect to Syria, we are here to win. So far we have collected ten points in four games and that is a good start. We have scored four goals in those games and while that is not ideal, it is because of the strength or our opponents.
“If we can keep scoring one or two goals in every match and not concede then I will be happy. All games at this stage are difficult and intense and this is a big responsibility for a coach. We have to play against good teams like Syria and always perform to our best but then on the other hand, we know that Iran are tough opponents for other teams in the group too.
HEAD2HEAD
| H / A / N | Matches | Won | Draw | Lost | Goals | + / – |
| Home | 10 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 19 – 8 | +11 |
| Away | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 10 – 3 | +7 |
| Neutral | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 7 – 2 | +5 |
| Total | 23 | 13 | 9 | 1 | 36 – 13 | +23 |