Iran's Shojaei is shown the yellow card by the referee during their 2014 World Cup Group F soccer match against Argentina at the Mineirao stadium in Belo Horizonte
Iran's Masoud Shojaei (L) is shown the yellow card by referee Milorad Mazic of Serbia as teammate Andranik Teymourian watches during their 2014 World Cup Group F soccer match against Argentina at the Mineirao stadium in Belo Horizonte June 21, 2014. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

Final Score

Bosnia-Herzegovina 3 Iran 1

Overview

The forty-fourth match of the FIFA World Cup 2014 is going to be held between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iran. The Group F match should be quite an interesting contest between the two as this will be Iran's last chance to try for a berth in the "group of 16" and create history. Bosnia-Herzegovina, on the other hand, will try to finish the group stages with at least one point.

Teams

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Bosnia-Herzegovina's tournament started well as it managed to resist Argentina for quite a long time. It even scored an equaliser and headed to a draw until a certain Lionel Messi snatched the match off its hands. When it lost to Nigeria in the following match, its tournament was virtually over. This match is Bosnia-Herzegovina's last chance to restore some pride as it has not managed to secure any point so far. What it can also do is that it can prevent Iran from going to the next round if it manages to end the match even in a draw.

Iran: Iran has only taken part in 4 World Cups so far, and it has never been able to go beyond the first round. However, this is its first opportunity to make it possible. It can hope that Nigeria will lose against Argentina. That means a win here will settle the goal difference issue with Nigeria and give it 4 points to qualify to the "round of 16." Nigeria presently has +1 goal difference and Iran -1. Iran is yet to score in this tournament. It needs to score at least twice to make it absolutely sure that it qualifies. Iran has maintained an extremely defensive strategy so far. It needs to change its strategy for this match to take advantage of the golden opportunity.

Head to Head

These two teams played 5 times against each other before. One match ended in a draw, and Iran won the other 4. There were 23 goals between the two. Iran scored 16 and Bosnia-Herzegovina 7.

Key Players

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Vedad Ibišević

Iran: Masoud Shojaei

Date, Time & Venue

Brazil's time zone is UTC/GMT -3. The match starts at 1 pm (local time) on June 25, which means it is 2 am on June 26 in New South Wales, Australia. The match will be held at Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador.

Prediction

Iran showed in its match against Argentina that it had the potential to have strong counterattacks. Its past record against Bosnia-Herzegovina has been impressive. It will win the match 2-1 and go to the next round for the first time.

Group Predictions

Group A, Group B, Group C, Group D, Group E, Group F, Group G & Group H

Reference: FIFA

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au