FIFA World Cup 2018: FPJ’s dream XI predictions for Iran and Spain; Live blog

After creating history against Morocco, Iran is all set to clash against Spain in FIFA World Cup 2018 match. The team showed great defensive solidity to beat their African opponents. However, Iran would start as underdogs irrespective of the points table. Many would say that Iran has been difficult to defeat for a few years but the Iranians have never faced any team ranked in the top 20 in the World Cup. They have lost to the likes of Tunisia and Turkey this year and it would be a trial by fire against Spain. Here we see the probable dream XI for Iran

Iran: Ali Beiranvand, Pejman Montazeri, Masoud Shojaei, Ramin Rezaeian, Morteza Pouraliganji, Saeid Ezatolahi, Ehsan Haji Safi, Omid Ebrahimi, Vahid Amiri, Sardar Azmoun, Alireza Jahanbakhsh

The former champions could have started on a better note if they hadn’t sacked their coach Julen Lopetegeui two days prior to World Cup opener against Portugal. In the opening match, we witnessed Ronaldo scoring a hat-trick and making it a 3-3 draw. The game against Iran will be interesting as Spain need to win this match if they want to keep their World Cup journey alive and a draw will be a troublesome result. Here is the probable dream XI for the Spaniards

Spain: David de Gea, Gerard Pique, Nacho, Jordi Alba, Sergio Ramos, Sergio Busquets, Thiago Alcantara, Andres Iniesta, Isco, David Silva, Diego Costa