Iran Qualify For World Cup Final's

South Korea, Japan, Australia, Holland, Italy, Germany – and – Iran have all qualified via their continental group for the World Cup set to be held in Brazil next year. Unsurprisingly, this is the first time that the Iranian’s have managed to achieve such an achievement for a fairly unknown football nation. At 48th in FIFA’s much discussed ranking system, they stand tall above Egypt, Turkey, Wales, Republic Of Ireland and South Korea even (so they surely can’t be as bad as we’re all thinking they are). In mid-2005 they were (theoretically) the 15th best football national team in the world according to the same rankings.

Iran’s underdog story is unlikely to be replicated to the level of Tahiti or North Korea in recent years, nevertheless they will go to Brazil next year with confidence that they can go out and possibly gain a few points. USA vs Iran would certainly be a well contended affair!

So how have such a minnow managed to cruise to qualification, beating South Korea in the process? Manager Carlos Queiroz could provide that answer. With an impressive coaching CV including Manchester United and Portugal it’s now slightly more believable that Iran has managed to snatch a group stage place.

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