Iran, England’s first World Cup group stage opponents, showed that Gareth Southgate’s players face a stiff challenge 58 days from now, as they beat a strong Uruguay side. Centre forward Mehdi Taremi, a consistent threat for several years at Porto, scored the winner after a slick passing moving which typified the Iranian technical skill. Brentford’s Saman Ghoddos, who has had no Premier League game time this season, also stood out.
He had flicked a ball over Martin Cáceres to race away down the right and executed a deft return pass from which left-sided forward Mehdi Torabi should have scored before initiating the move which brought the goal. Sadegh Moharramim, the right back who excelled for Dinamo Zagreb in locking down English internationals Raheem Sterling during the 1-0 Champions League win over Chelsea last month, linked well with Feyenoord’s Alireza Jahanbakhsh down the right. This was the flank where Iran posed a threat. Continue reading “IRAN 1-0 URUGUAY: MEHDI TAREMI’S GOAL SEES ENGLAND’S WC FOES SEND STERN WARNING”