How Queiroz tweaked Iran’s tactics to take all three points against a woeful Wales – tactical analysis

Group B of the 2022 World Cup has just been blown wide open after Friday morning’s surprise result.

Iran, coming into the game off the back of a 6-2 hammering suffered at the hands of England, put Wales to the sword on Black Friday, winning 2-0 at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium in Ar-Rayyan.

Had Rob Page’s Welsh side been victorious on the day, Team Melli would have been mathematically eliminated from the tournament, the first nation to be knocked out in this controversial rendition of the competition.

However, the newfound stoppage time system gave Iran the breakthrough they needed. In the 98^th minute, Rouzbeh Cheshmi curled the ball past Danny Ward against a ten-man Wales to give hope to the Middle Eastern side amid the backdrop of protests, fear and dismay back home.

Cheshmi’s wonder strike was followed up by a beautiful chip over the goalkeeper from Ramin Rezaeian in the eleventh minute of added time to seal all three points for Iran, giving the nation hope of progressing to the knockout phase for the first time ever in World Cup history.

Carlos Queiroz pulled off a masterclass in refurbishment following Monday’s gut-wrenching loss to the Three Lions, so let’s take a look at how the Portuguese pragmatist did it.

This tactical analysis piece will look at the key tactics from the game between Wales and Iran.

Formations and lineups

It was a shock to many when Page dropped Kieffer Moore to the bench for Wales’ opening bout against the USA. Fulham’s Daniel James was given the nod instead, which turned out to be a poor decision from the coach.

Of course, hindsight is 20/20. Page started James over Moore as he believed his side would’ve been able to do damage in transition, hitting balls into the channels to both Gareth Bale and James in a strike partnership.

Unfortunately, this did backfire, and the manager was forced to rectify his error by bringing Moore on at half-time which changed the game for the Dragons. Nonetheless, Page didn’t make the same mistake twice and so Moore was his only change from the 1-1 draw on Monday as Wales maintained the same 5-3-2 shape.

For the record, Wyscout have identified Iran’s shape as a 4-3-2-1 but it was certainly a 4-4-2.

Iran, on the other hand, were utterly disastrous during their heavy defeat to Gareth Southgate’s England. Queiroz reverted from his preferred 4-1-4-1 shape to a more conservative 5-4-1 in the hopes of denying the Three Lions any opportunities. This failed miserably.

Team Melli were carved open on a plethora of occasions and Queiroz’s men looked as though they were uncomfortable playing within the formation throughout the match.