WATCH LIVE : England vs Iran Live Stream FIFA World Cup 2022 Full HD
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Another attempt to emulate the heroes of 1966 awaits Gareth Southgate‘s young, effervescent crop, and should the Three Lions continue the theme of going one better at major tournaments under the 52-year-old, the empty suitcase that Declan Rice brought along to carry home the World Cup trophy will come in handy.
The nation could hardly have been happier when Kieran Trippier scored that memorable free kick against Croatia in the semi-finals four years ago, and even that moment was topped when Luke Shaw struck first against Italy in the Euro 2020 final, but England ended both tournaments without the winners’ medals around their necks.
This time around, optimism is not exactly high, with the 1966 champions entering the World Cup on the back of a winless Nations League campaign which saw them relegated to League B, having also failed to score from open play until their 3-3 draw with Germany on the final matchday.
A slice of unwanted history is also on the line for England here, as the Three Lions could fail to win seven games in a row for only the second time, having set that record all the way back in 1958, which would be a major blot on Southgate’s notebook as speculation over his post-World Cup future hots up.
England have also made a habit of winning one opening match at the World Cup and failing to win the next – prevailing on matchday one in 1998, 2006 and 2018 but coming up short in 2002, 2010 and 2014 – and Iran ought to play without any fear knowing that the pressure is firmly off their shoulders.
Iran are not a team you would usually associate with goals, particularly at the World Cup, where they have only scored more than once in a game on one occasion in the past – their famous win over USA in 1998.
Indeed, of teams to have played more than 10 World Cup matches, Iran have the worst goals-per-game ratio, while of the teams to have featured in both of the last two tournaments, they also registered the fewest goals, shots and shots on target.
The fact that Queiroz has only named three strikers in his squad hints at an ongoing dearth of attacking talent at his disposal, although the three forwards he has named boast 98 international goals between them.
Sardar Azmoun leads the way with 41 from just 65 caps, while Karim Ansarifard has 29 and Mehdi Taremi has 28, placing them all inside Iran’s seven highest goalscorers of all time.
Porto’s Taremi in particular is one to keep an eye on – he only featured six times in World Cup qualifying, yet he was still involved in more goals than any other Iran player.
Our challenge is to give our supporters a tournament that is memorable,” said boss Southgate.
“Our country is going through a difficult spell, in the middle of an economic recession and life has been difficult for a lot of people.”
Southgate added: “We want them to have a journey with the team that brings real happiness.”
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England go into the game as favourites but their boss says his players need to be patient if they do not score early on.
“Our team have been pretty creative and successful in breaking those sorts of challenges,” said Southgate. “We know we mustn’t be frustrated if it takes us time to score, confident with teams playing against Iran, difficult to score goals.
“This team has been through lots of difficult challenges. You need to respond in the right way and that’s what we’ll aim to do this tournament too.”
‘England have a storm of talent’
Iran coach Carlos Queiroz, who had two spells as Manchester United assistant boss, says England are among the contenders to win the tournament.
“What can I say about England? One of the top national teams in the world,” he said. “They are serious candidates to be in the final position, why not a contender to be the world champion?
“They reached a wonderful position in the last World Cup and Euros. They have a storm of talent.
“I worked with the generation of Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes and David Beckham but this national team is really different because they have a realistic approach to any single game which makes them very, very dangerous.”
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TEAM NEWS
England will be without midfielder James Maddison and defender Kyle Walker for Monday’s game.
Maddison has yet to train in Qatar as he nurses a knee problem picked up playing for Leicester last weekend, while Walker is still working his way back to fitness after groin surgery.
Iran are hopeful Sardar Azmoun will be fit for their tournament opener. The Bayer Leverkusen forward has not played since suffering a calf injury at the start of October.
SUTTON’S PREDICTIONS
This is not arrogance but I am expecting England will win all their group games and am hoping they build some momentum as the tournament progresses.
Having said that, the centre-back position terrifies me and I think everyone is waiting to see if Gareth Southgate will go with three or four at the back, and whether Harry Maguire starts against Iran.
Iran drew with Portugal at the last World Cup so this should not be seen as a pushover, and they are well organised with a threat up front in the shape of Porto striker Mehdi Taremi.
England have more quality throughout their team, but I don’t think they will find it easy, especially in their first game.
Sutton’s prediction: 1-0
Chris Sutton’s predictions for the opening round of World Cup games
MATCH FACTS
England
- England have qualified for the World Cup for the 16th time. It’s their seventh appearance in a row, their longest streak in the competition.
- England set the best goal difference in the group stage of European qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, scoring 39 goals and conceding only three (+36).
- Gareth Southgate has led England to the last four in each of his two tournaments as national team head coach. Only Sir Alf Ramsey can boast a similar record as England boss (World Cup winners in 1966, Euro semi-finalists in 1968).
- England striker Harry Kane was the top scorer in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with five of his six goals coming in the group stages. No player has ever been top/joint-top scorer at two different World Cup tournaments.
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Iran
- Iran have never progressed past the first round of the World Cup, winning only two of their 15 matches (v USA in 1998 and Morocco in 2018).
- Iran have scored just nine goals in 15 World Cup matches; at 0.6, it’s the lowest goals-per-game ratio of any nation to play more than 10 games at the competition. They’ve only netted more than once in one of their 15 games, a 2-1 win over USA in 1998.
- Iran are one of 20 teams to have featured at each of the last two FIFA World Cups in 2014 and 2018 – of those teams, they have had the fewest shots (47), the fewest shots on target (10) and scored the fewest goals (3) in the group stages across those two tournaments combined.