World Cup 2018: The most underrated player to watch out for in each group

Group B: Alireza Jahanbakhsh

Iran national team in training ahead of 2018 FIFA World Cup

Alireza Jahanbakhsh is certainly a hard name to wrap your tongue around, yet his name is familiar in the Netherlands where he was arguably the best player in the Eredivisie. Jahanbakhsh finished with the second highest player rating in the league (according to WhoScored). Even more impressively, he scored the most goals in the league with 21. Jahanbakhsh also won an obscene 14 ‘Man of the Match’ awards, a number only eclipsed by Lionel Messi in Europe’s top leagues.

Jahanbakhsh passing was equally impressive, as he was tied for 3rd in assists with 12. The winger also ranked 9th in key passes and 4th in dribbles. Such excellent performances bode well for the Iran, who face one of the most difficult groups in the World Cup with favorites Spain and Portugal along with a resurgent Morocco. Iran will probably be set up in a defensive manner against these teams (especially Spain and Portugal) and thus will not have many chances to score. Thus, the pressure on Jahanbakhsh will be even greater to create and finish chances when Iran do attack.