Queiroz has been leading Iran since 2011, so the team really developed under his guidance to get into the two consecutive World Cups.

TThey are a team that is pretty much defensive minded, relying on counter-attacking play to gain advantage over opponents. The team possesses attacking threat in Azmoun and Jahanbakhsh – first one scored 23 goals on 32 matches for the national team, and the second one is the top scorer in Eredivisie.

1. Iran is relying on Azmoun a lot in attack. Teammates use him as a target man, with central midfielders attacking second balls and wingers trying to get in behind. Due to individual qualities of their forwards Iran can be a threat in transition. Far sided winger is almost always positioned in more advanced areas, so he is quick to release from defensive positions and create options to open up counter-attacks.
2. One of main strengths of Iran is well drilled defensive organization. They are mostly set up in medium block, forming 4-1-4-1/4-5-1 structure with tendency to prevent penetration through the middle.They arevery compact and organized side, with the defensive line being more narrow then midfield line, so opponents frequently used that to switch sides and try to influence their horizontal compactness. After switch of sides they have had real problems to deal with cut-back crosses.

One more characteristic of their defensive organization is man marking applied by full-backs. They were constantly drawn out of position, with opponents exploiting wide areas of the field.