Iran South Korea

PLDC - Head coach of Iran’s National Football Team Dragan Skocic says they will not play defensive football in Thursday's match against South Korea in Seoul.

Speaking in a pre-match press conference on Wednesday, the Croatian coach said that Iran will continue its own style. Both teams have secured their spot in the 2022 World Cup but winning the group is an important issue and Iran is preparing for this, he added.

He referred to the absence of a few players, the jet lag issue, and the late joining of some players to the camp in Seoul as the main problems of the team, noting that despite all these difficulties, the team will show the quality that they have already displayed.

Mehdi Taremi, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, and Samam Ghoddos have been detected with COVID-19 and cannot participate in this match against the traditional rival.

Although these are valuable players, he continued, their absence does not mean that Team Melli is not equipped with the required players for the match.

Skocic reminded that this is the same team that defeated Iraq while six of the players were out due to the pandemic.

Iran stand top of Group A with two points ahead of Korea and even a draw can almost guarantee to win Group A.

The match will be held at Seoul World Cup Stadium at 8 PM local time (UTC+9).

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