Iran will look to send Bosnia-Herzegovina back home winless and surprisingly reach the last 16 of the World Cup when they play their final group game in Salvador on Wednesday afternoon.

Carlos Queiroz's side can reach the knockout stages of the tournament if they beat Bosnia and Argentina get the better of Nigeria in the other match.

They were cruelly beaten by Lionel Messi's last-gasp strike on Saturday and will be confident of beating a Bosnia side who are already out of the tournament.

After playing well against Argentina, Bosnia fell to Nigeria and will now be playing for pride in two days' time.

Bosnia coach Safet Susic could make changes, but star players Edin Dzeko and Miralem Pjanic are likely to continue.

Even if Iran manage to win, they might be denied a place in the last 16 if FIFA needs to draw lots to decide who goes through between them and Nigeria.

If Iran beat Bosnia 1-0 and Nigeria lose to Argentina by the same scoreline, then both teams will be completely level and the team that progresses will be completely down to luck.

Interestingly, Iran were the first team that Bosnia-Herzegovina ever played in a non-FIFA international way back in 1993 soon after their independence from Yugoslavia.

The last time the two met was in a 2009 friendly when Dzeko scored twice, but Bosnia still went down 3-2 in Sarajevo.

Recent form

Bosnia-Herzegovina: LLWWLL

Iran: LDWDDD

Possible starting lineups

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Begovic, Spahic, Besic, Misimovic, Mujdza, Sunjic, Lulic, Medunjanin, Hajrovic, Pjanic, Dzeko

Iran: Haghighi; Haji Safi, Hosseini, Sadeghi, Nekounam, Shojaei, Timotian, Montarezi, Ghoochannejad, Dejagah, Pooladi

Sports Mole says: 2-0

Written by
Pascal Lemesre

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