Saman Ghoddos has been named in the Iran squad for two vital upcoming matches. Iran are currently trying to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which will be held at the end of the year. They face Iraq and United Arab Emirates in the coming days and Saman is in the squad for the two games.

Iran are in a six-team group for the current stage of the qualification process and have played six of their ten games, winning five of them. They are top of Third Round Qualification Group A and look well-placed to qualify. South Korea are a point behind Iran, but Saman and his countrymen have a ten-point lead over UAE, who are third. The top two teams qualify automatically.

Iran can seal qualification in the next few days. They face Iraq at home on Thursday, 27 January, and will qualify if they win the match. Even if they lose, they will qualify if they beat UAE next Tuesday, 1 February. There are also two more matches to secure a spot at the tournament, in Qatar, in March.

Saman has been a regular in the Iran squad during the qualification process. He has been involved in all seven of the ten matches in the qualification process since it resumed after the COVID-19 pandemic, which delayed matters last year. He was an unused substitute in the other three games.

Saman has won 29 caps for Iran so far and played for them in the 2018 World Cup in Russia. He also has two caps for Sweden. Saman has earned six of those caps since he made a permanent switch to Brentford at the start of 2021. He has scored three international goals so far, two of them for Iran.