Dubai Telegraph - Iran look to sanction England, US in World Cup showdown

EUR -
AED 3.841211
AFN 75.832767
ALL 100.186787
AMD 414.576178
ANG 1.887817
AOA 956.388626
ARS 1105.306912
AUD 1.656685
AWG 1.885056
AZN 1.78038
BAM 1.969275
BBD 2.114972
BDT 127.270845
BGN 1.955518
BHD 0.394123
BIF 3061.059083
BMD 1.045801
BND 1.414197
BOB 7.238599
BRL 6.033118
BSD 1.047467
BTN 91.024834
BWP 14.518551
BYN 3.428089
BYR 20497.696624
BZD 2.104097
CAD 1.485084
CDF 2996.219457
CHF 0.944918
CLF 0.02597
CLP 996.585326
CNY 7.62368
CNH 7.61239
COP 4328.967115
CRC 531.134264
CUC 1.045801
CUP 27.713722
CVE 110.907656
CZK 25.04069
DJF 185.859769
DKK 7.459799
DOP 65.101235
DZD 141.548368
EGP 52.957052
ERN 15.687013
ETB 131.874426
FJD 2.411404
FKP 0.840462
GBP 0.832677
GEL 2.949014
GGP 0.840462
GHS 16.168365
GIP 0.840462
GMD 74.777355
GNF 9050.360522
GTQ 8.08633
GYD 219.151631
HKD 8.144587
HNL 26.704726
HRK 7.555991
HTG 137.069861
HUF 402.027044
IDR 16982.759973
ILS 3.727799
IMP 0.840462
INR 90.759879
IQD 1369.999111
IRR 44028.215839
ISK 146.799364
JEP 0.840462
JMD 164.777483
JOD 0.741999
JPY 160.097469
KES 134.908497
KGS 91.455371
KHR 4192.615543
KMF 492.206077
KPW 941.314949
KRW 1508.564274
KWD 0.322808
KYD 0.872986
KZT 523.280525
LAK 22720.023256
LBP 93729.900655
LKR 309.903465
LRD 206.545178
LSL 19.358075
LTL 3.087978
LVL 0.632594
LYD 5.134724
MAD 10.425622
MDL 19.640672
MGA 4925.722497
MKD 61.482134
MMK 3396.720361
MNT 3619.675593
MOP 8.403923
MRU 41.88392
MUR 48.650272
MVR 16.115643
MWK 1811.327328
MXN 21.361581
MYR 4.643182
MZN 66.837223
NAD 19.357987
NGN 1576.17837
NIO 38.543734
NOK 11.666743
NPR 145.641636
NZD 1.842253
OMR 0.402641
PAB 1.047477
PEN 3.88672
PGK 4.192621
PHP 60.517345
PKR 291.935403
PLN 4.170683
PYG 8239.377593
QAR 3.80771
RON 4.976447
RSD 117.081589
RUB 93.599748
RWF 1464.121187
SAR 3.922391
SBD 8.833842
SCR 15.049083
SDG 628.52583
SEK 11.232108
SGD 1.405645
SHP 0.861308
SLE 23.854476
SLL 21929.926782
SOS 597.677932
SRD 36.969175
STD 21645.966093
SVC 9.165716
SYP 13598.565212
SZL 19.357906
THB 35.233282
TJS 11.417735
TMT 3.670761
TND 3.331868
TOP 2.449369
TRY 37.853286
TTD 7.108641
TWD 34.12626
TZS 2730.060284
UAH 43.701425
UGX 3854.373387
USD 1.045801
UYU 45.450997
UZS 13595.411031
VES 64.573691
VND 26631.318598
VUV 129.327127
WST 2.967323
XAF 660.48582
XAG 0.032328
XAU 0.000357
XCD 2.826329
XDR 0.802096
XOF 660.046764
XPF 119.331742
YER 259.358393
ZAR 19.348781
ZMK 9413.459828
ZMW 29.30379
ZWL 336.747446
  • RBGPF

    -0.8400

    64.01

    -1.31%

  • NGG

    0.6900

    61.27

    +1.13%

  • CMSC

    0.1300

    23.41

    +0.56%

  • SCS

    0.4900

    12.42

    +3.95%

  • RELX

    0.4700

    51.91

    +0.91%

  • RIO

    1.2500

    63.29

    +1.98%

  • CMSD

    0.1600

    23.87

    +0.67%

  • BTI

    -3.1300

    39.61

    -7.9%

  • GSK

    0.4200

    36.55

    +1.15%

  • BP

    -0.1900

    34.49

    -0.55%

  • AZN

    0.0200

    74.45

    +0.03%

  • BCC

    1.8800

    120.6

    +1.56%

  • RYCEF

    0.2100

    7.88

    +2.66%

  • BCE

    0.3700

    23.63

    +1.57%

  • VOD

    -0.1600

    8.43

    -1.9%

  • JRI

    0.0700

    12.92

    +0.54%

Iran look to sanction England, US in World Cup showdown
Iran look to sanction England, US in World Cup showdown

Iran look to sanction England, US in World Cup showdown

Having fought to win the respect of Iran's football public, Dragan Skocic now has a World Cup showdown with England and a politically charged clash with the United States to cement his international standing.

Text size:

England manager Gareth Southgate admitted he knew little about the Iranian team his side will face on the opening day of the World Cup after they were put together in Group B at Friday's draw in Doha.

England have been too busy with their own matches, he said.

"We know that they finished ahead of South Korea and if they have done that we know they have some pretty good players."

FIFA has been urged to punish Iran for refusing to let women into a stadium for their last World Cup qualifier against Lebanon this week. But it is unlikely to impact a sixth appearance at the finals.

"We will try to advance. I always said we have a very good team and maybe we can advance for the first time," Skocic, a former Croatian international player, told Iranian state news agency IRNA on Saturday.

"I think our draw could have been worse, for example, being in the Spain-Germany group. But our work will still be difficult and one cannot expect a simple group in the World Cup," he added.

"England is the toughest team in my opinion," adding "but our team is good enough to be able to compete with others."

England's research will show that Skocic lifted a demoralised side after taking over from Belgian Marc Wilmots in February 2020 when successive defeats left them in danger of failing to reach Qatar.

"We were in a difficult situation," Skocic, who moved from the Iranian league to take charge of the national side, acknowledged.

But the 52-year-old has since led Iran to 15 wins, against one loss, and made them the top-ranked Asian side in the FIFA rankings.

Following Wilmots and the Portuguese Carlos Queiroz, who took Iran to two World Cup finals in eight years, was not easy.

Skocic complained to Iranian media after Iran sealed its place in January that "many underestimated me and didn’t respect me but I’m very happy because I’ve proved myself."

And now he is talking about the potential for upsets and Iran going past the opening groups for the first time.

"Football is interesting for people because it is unpredictable," he said.

"We know that England are better than other teams at the moment but they have to show that in the game."

- Forget politics -

Skocic also does not want to stir up the politics swirling around Iran's clash with the United States on November 29.

Iran and the United States have been at daggers drawn since the Islamic revolution in 1979. And Iran scored a famous 2-1 win over the US team at the 1998 World Cup.

"I don’t care about this," said Skocic. "Of course there is some story between the two but we will think only about football."

In 1998, the Iranian and US players exchanged roses before the game. Neither Skocic nor his American counterpart Gregg Berhalter expect the same gesture this time.

"I want to see a good game and I don’t want to think about flowers and that story. I think the ball must speak," he said.

Skocic said his side must forget the "emotion" of the politics.

He will be relying on players who went through previous World Cup campaigns, and the likes of Mehdi Taremi at Porto in Portugal, Sardar Azmoun at Germany's Bayer Leverkusen and Alireza Jahanbakhsh at Feyenoord in the Netherlands who have played European football.

But they do not always make life easy for him. Taremi was dropped for two games last year after criticising Skocic.

Yet after more than eight years in Iran, which has faced years of international sanctions, Skocic insists he is happy.

The team trains in "good conditions" and he says he has made valuable friends.

"Iran is something different than people think. Everyone talks about the politics but I have never seen the hospitality that I have experienced in Iran."

A.Ansari--DT