10 Players You’ve Never Heard Of Who Could Star At World Cup 2018
3. Sardar Azmoun (Iran)
Iran are heading into the World Cup as one of the lower ranked sides of the competition and find themselves faced with the almost impossible task of qualifying from a group that features current European Champions Portgual and former European and World Champions Spain. If the team managed by Carlos Queiroz is to have any chance of getting to the knockout rounds, they'll be looking to Sardar Azmoun to make it happen.
He may be only 23 years old, but Azmoun is already one of his country's top scorers of all time. He's netted 23 times in 32 appearances so far, which is a remarkable return for an international striker and gives Azmoun an average strike rate of 0.74 goals per game.
Highly rated for his aerial presence, pace and finishing skills, Azmoun has earned the nickname "Iranian Messi" by some sections of the media and is regarded as the best Iranian player of recent years. He scored 5 times and assisted 3 more goals in the Russian Premier League with Rubin Kazan this season and will be Iran's biggest threat at the World Cup.