Queiroz wants three points in Tehran

Iran coach Carlos Queiroz said Tuesday’s 2014 World Cup qualifier against Qatar in Tehran is a must-win for both sides.

Iran opened their final round campaign with an unconvincing 1-0 win in Uzbekistan, while Qatar have three points from two games after a 1-0 win in Lebanon and 4-1 home defeat to South Korea.

Queiroz’s side head into the game as favourites and he insisted their focus was the three points as they try to seal World Cup qualification without any ‘hassles’.

“We don’t take our opponents lightly but we are looking at a win and three points. We want to win this game and move on,” Queiroz said.

The two sides drew 2-2 at the same venue in February, when Iran had already sealed their progress to the final round and Queiroz insisted little could be taken from that game.

“Tomorrow’s game will be different to how we played against Qatar in February. But the situation is different now. Every team is playing with an eye on Brazil. So it is tough,” Queiroz said.

“We prefer going through with little hassles as possible.”

The Portuguese coach also responded to questions about his side’s ordinary style of play against the Uzbeks, stating the points not ‘beautiful football’ was the most important thing.

“My boys did their best against Uzbekistan and eventually defeated the team in the dying moments of the match. To be the winner is more important than playing beautiful without a victory,” he said.

Meanwhile, Qatar boss Paulo Autuori said his side was focused on eliminating any errors to win the three points in Tehran.

“We will do our best to present a strong game and achieve a positive result to compensate our loss against Korea in the last game,” he said.

“There are some errors witnessed in the match against Korea, which led to our loss, and now our focus on tomorrow’s game to win. I must stress we’ll do everything possible to make this happen at this stage.”