At 22:00 China Time on November 19, in the 6th round of Group A of the third stage (18-team tournament) of the World Cup Asian Qualifiers, Kyrgyzstan will host Iran. Since the start of the 18-team tournament, both teams have found themselves in vastly different positions. Iran has won 4 out of 5 matches and drawn 1, accumulating 13 points to top the group; Kyrgyzstan, on the other hand, has only 1 win and 4 losses, earning just 3 points and ranking 5th in the group. However, Kyrgyzstan’s strength should not be underestimated, as they posed a significant challenge to Iran in the first round of the 18-team tournament.
In the first round, Kyrgyzstan narrowly lost to Iran 0-1 away, with Taremi scoring the only goal of the match. In that game, Iran had a possession rate of 58%, giving them an advantage; in terms of shots, Iran took 20 shots while Kyrgyzstan managed 7. However, in terms of shots on target, Iran only had 3, while Kyrgyzstan had 6. This shows that Kyrgyzstan can pose a threat in attack. However, in their last three meetings, Iran has emerged victorious each time.
In this edition of the World Cup Asian Qualifiers, Iran has been consistently strong. They remained unbeaten in the second stage (36-team tournament) with 4 wins and 2 draws, and then secured 4 wins and 1 draw in the first 5 rounds of the third stage (18-team tournament). During this period, they defeated Kyrgyzstan 1-0, beat the UAE 1-0, drew 0-0 with Uzbekistan, thrashed Qatar 4-1, and overcame North Korea 3-2. It is worth noting that Iran kept a clean sheet in the first three rounds of the 18-team tournament but has conceded goals in the last two matches, nearly being caught up by North Korea in the previous round. For Iran, it is crucial to focus on defense and maintain concentration when they face Kyrgyzstan away.
Taremi was the standout player in Iran’s victory over North Korea, providing 3 assists in the first half to help Iran take a 3-0 lead at halftime. However, the second half saw a dramatic turn, with Taremi scoring an own goal and missing a penalty. After scoring twice in the 4-1 win over Qatar, Mohabi again scored twice against North Korea, demonstrating his excellent form. However, according to media reports, Mohabi withdrew from the team due to injury, and Iran subsequently called up Limoochi as a replacement. Additionally, Iran’s central defender Harezad received a red card in the last match and will miss the game against Kyrgyzstan.
Kyrgyzstan’s previous 5 matches resulted in a 0-1 loss to Iran, a 2-3 defeat to Uzbekistan, a 1-3 loss to Qatar, a 1-0 win over North Korea, and a 0-3 defeat to the UAE. Kyrgyzstan has only scored 4 goals so far, averaging 0.8 goals per game, making them the team with the lowest average goal output in the group. In this edition of the World Cup Asian Qualifiers, Kyrgyzstan has played 5 home games from the 36-team tournament to the 18-team tournament, achieving 3 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss, with a home win rate of 60%. Shukurov is one of Kyrgyzstan’s key offensive players, having scored 1 goal and provided 1 assist in the 18-team tournament; however, the team’s main striker Kocho has been in poor form, failing to score, which is one of the reasons for Kyrgyzstan’s low goal efficiency.
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