England takes on Iran in their opening match at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Group B. This is the first time the two are meeting in a World Cup.
The Three Lions did well in major competitions recently having reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and the finals of Euro 2020 and will look to start their campaign in Qatar on high today.
Iran on the other hand heads into this match as the underdogs but will aim at unleashing an upset on the star-studded English team.
FACTS
- Today’s match will be the first-ever encounter between England and Iran. The Islamic Republic has never beaten European opposition at the FIFA World Cup (D2 L6).
- England are the only European team to have reached the semi-finals in each of the last two major tournaments (FIFA World Cup + EURO).
- 12 of England’s last 18 goals at the FIFA World Cup have been scored from set-pieces. In fact, 75% of their goals in 2018 came from dead ball situations (9 out of 12).
- Iran have never progressed past the first round of the FIFA World Cup, winning only two of their 15 matches (v USA in 1998 and Morocco in 2018). This is their sixth participation in the tournament, including their third in a row.
- Iran have scored just nine goals in 15 FIFA 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 have only netted more than once in one of their 15 games, a 2-1 win over USA in 1998.
- 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.
TEAM NEWS
England starting XI: Pickford, Trippier, Stones, Maguire, Shaw, Rice, Bellingham, Mount, Saka, Kane, Sterling.
Iran starting XI: Beiranvand, Moharrami, Hajsafi, Mohammadi, Jahanbakhsh, Pouraliganji, Taremi, Cheshmi, Karimi, Hosseini, Nourollahi.
