TEHRANTIMES - President of Iran Football Federation Mehdi Taj expects positive results when Team Melli starts the 2016 World Cup qualifying.

Iran has been drawn in Group A along with South Korea, Uzbekistan, Qatar, China and Syria.

“I’ve seen South Korea in its recent international friendly matches and I have to say it is not the team to beat. Uzbekistan and China are good teams but Qatar has hired some foreign players. With all the respect I have for our opponents, I have to say Iran has a better condition than five other teams in the group,” Taj said.

Iran defeated Macedonia and Kyrgyzstan 3-0 and 6-0 respectively as part of its preparation for the World Cup qualifying.
“I believed that the friendly match against Macedonia was good. I also believe that we have to play with the stronger teams but we need time to plan the friendlies. Also, there is no enough budget to arrange the warm-up matches with the powerful teams,” Iran football president added.