Iran unlikely to cause problems

Mexico v Iran: As was entirely predictable, Iran have so far made more headlines at these finals for political than for sporting reasons. Germany's Jewish community spokesperson Charlotte Knobloch this week called Iranian president Ahmadinejad a "second Hitler" and called for him to be banned from setting foot on German soil because of his persistent denials of the Holocaust and calls for the destruction of Israel.

For the time being, Fifa hope the Iranian president will do them a favour by staying away. If he does opt to stay in Tehran for the duration of the first round, he will have no further footballing need to travel, because Iran are almost certain to be eliminated.

Iran start here against a talented Mexican side that, even if flattered by their seeding, come into the tournament with the impressive record of having beaten Argentina and Brazil in the last two years (1-0 defeat of Argentina in the Copa America in July 2004 and 1-0 defeat of Brazil in the Confederations Cup in July 2005).

Mexico's plans have been upset by the sudden death of the father of their goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez, one of the key figures in the team. Sanchez has flown back to Mexico for the funeral and, at press time, it looked unlikely he would be back in time to play against Iran. Indeed, he could yet decide to miss the entire tournament.

Along with Portugal, Mexico are strongly fancied to come out of this group and if they fail, their Argentine coach, Ricardo Lavolpe, can hardly say it was for lack of preparation. Lavolpe has had his largely Mexican-based team in training camp since April.

Bolton's Jared Borgetti is expected to lead the Mexican attack alongside Villareal's Guillermo Blanco, and while that does not exactly look a World Cup winning line-up, Mexico should still prove too strong for Iran.

Branko Ivankovic, Iran's Croat coach, has injury doubts about his Kaiserslautern midfielder Fereydoon Zandi. In contrast, though, he can call on a trio of "Germans" in Bayern Munich midfielder Ali Karimi, Hamburg midfielder Mehdi Madavikia and Hanover striker Vahid Hashemian, all perhaps with a point to prove in front of German fans.

For all that, Mexico to win.