ST PETERSBURG (Reuters) - Iran picked forward Sardar Azmoun to spearhead their attack in their World Cup Group B opening match against Morocco on Friday, with coach Carlos Queiroz leaving wide forward Mehdi Taremi on the bench.
Taremi started Iran's final warm-up match against Lithuania, and Queiroz also brought in Vahid Amiri and Karim Ansarifard into his attacking line-up, although Dutch league top scorer Alireza Jahanbakhsh kept his starting place.
Herve Renard named an unchanged line-up from the team who beat Estonia in Morocco's last warm-up match on June 8.
The Frenchman is counting on left-footed striker Ayoub El Kaabi to lead the line against Iran.
(Reporting by Simon Jennings, editing by Julien Pretot)
