(Football news) Wales and Iran will head into their Group B fixture at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium knowing that a victory could take them one step towards qualification for the World Cup knockout stages. After England had thrashed Iran, Wales and USA went into their game in Al Rayyan knowing that they could not afford defeat, and managed an entertaining 1-1 draw which was the most popular pre-match prediction.

Nevertheless, neither side particularly played for a draw as the Wales fans will feel that they  were fortunate to still be in the contest come the half-time whistle. But in the second half, it was a completely different story as the Dragons should have won the match after squandering a number of chances before finally Gareth Bale scored his first-ever World Cup goal from the penalty spot. The Wales' star man was not at his influential best but his effort from 12 yards put Wales in a position where their fate will still be in their own hands if they can beat Iran. Despite the draw Robert Page's side are now winless in six matches and have only won once in nine matches.

Iran were thoroughly outclassed by England and Carlos Queiroz's side are looking like a shadow of the team that had collected a brilliant win and a draw from Uruguay and Senegal in September. To Iran’s credit, they never gave up and scored two late consolation goals courtesy of Mehdi Taremi. The Porto man's double highlighted the threat in attack that the Iranian team possesses and alon with that substitute Sardar Azmoun returning to action after an injury will only encourage Iran ahead of this do or die encounter. Despite the presence of the deadly duo, Iran have not scored more than twice in a game, something which is ideally required as they look to rectify this and be lethal in front of goal. 

Wales possible starting lineup:

Hennessey; Mepham, Rodon, Davies; Roberts, Ramsey, Ampadu, Williams; James, Bale; Moore

Iran possible starting lineup:

H. Hosseini; Moharrami, Pouraliganji, Cheshmi, M. Hosseini, Mohammadi; Jahanbakhsh, Noorollahi, Karimi, Azmoun, Taremi

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