Iran's key player at Qatar 2022:  Sardar Azmoun.

Seven years ago in Australia, Queiroz introduced Azmoun off the bench with 15 minutes to go in an AFC Asian Cup group stage game against Bahrain, replacing Reza Goochannejhad. In the next game, Azmoun was named as a starter, scoring one of the goals of the tournament after an exquisite on-the-turn control against Qatar. From that moment, Azmoun never looked back.

Since then, the current Bayer Leverkusen forward started each of the 12 major tournament games Iran competed in under Queiroz, playing at least 80 minutes in all but two of them. In Russia 2018, Azmoun did not find the back of the net, but the nation’s top-scoring active player will be odds-on to break his FIFA World Cup duck in Qatar.