World Cup Qatar | England vs Iran - Nov 21 | 13:00

[Mat]

Game info England vs Iran

 

Under suspicion after the gigantic failure in the League of Nations of Europe, England makes this Monday, November 21, its debut in the World Cup in Qatar 2022. It will have as an opponent the selection of Iran, which also faced turbulence and promoted a change of command on the eve of the World Cup.

The confrontation, part of Group B, will be held at the Khalifa International stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 13:00 UTC.

 

How does the 2022 Qatar World Cup work?

 

The World Cup in Qatar will be the last to be played with 32 teams. As of the 2026 World Cup, shared by the United States, Mexico, and Canada, the number of participants will jump to 4. Thus, it will be the last time the format with eight groups of four teams will be used. Teams play against each other in a single shift in this first phase.

 

The top two finishers in each bracket survive to the next stage. From then on, in a single elimination game, the finalists will be defined. In the case of equality, the extra time and penalty kicks can be used to describe who advances.

 

England Performance

At the final whistle of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, England left the competition as the most promising candidate for the title in 2022. After all, with a squad full of talented youngsters, it had reached fourth place. He dealt with the lack of experience of a promising generation as the main weakness pointed out by critics. Defect that time would be able to heal. Almost four and a half years later, the expected scenario has yet to be consolidated.

 

The English Team arrives at the World Cup, going through its worst moment in the preparation cycle for the World Cup in Qatar. He starred in an embarrassment in the dispute for the 2022/2023 version of the League of Nations in Europe. It was fourth – last – in Group 3 of Liga A, the elite division of the UEFA Nations League. It added just three points (three draws and three defeats) in a key that had Italy, which even managed to place in the 2022 Cup, as champions. It ended up relegated to Liga B, the Second Division of the competition.

 

A battery of criticism of the work of coach Garry Southate accompanied the disastrous result. Most of them focused on the inability to develop the creation and finalization sector, despite capable players delivering quality football. With four goals scored in six meetings, England had the worst attack of the 12 participants in League A. However, the negative comments did not stop there. The coach's insistence on players far from their best form was also subject to reservations. In this case, the best example was defender Harry Maguire, who, even though he lost his starting position at Manchester City, had his prestige maintained in the English Team and was taken to the World Cup.

 

Iran Performance

Iran's selection also opens its participation in the World Cup in Qatar, knowing that it did not make the best possible preparation. It even had a quiet campaign in the Asian qualifiers. With 25 points (eight wins, one draw, and one defeat), he was in first place in group A in the decisive stage of the tournament. The best campaign of the competition took four representatives directly to the World Cup (South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Japan were the others) and even led Australia through the playoffs.

 

The tranquility of the four lines, however, was not replicated backstage. Coach Dragan Skocic clashed with the Iranian Federation top hats and asked for the cap right after the qualifiers. There was, however, a reconciliation. They were reinstated to the office. However, Skocic did not last long. Seeing the opportunity to count on Carlos Queiróz again, who managed the Iran national team in 2014 (Brazil) and 2018 (Russia) World Cups, the directors dismissed the Croatian and hired the Portuguese.

 

Queiróz had a brief period to put his ideas into practice. Only four friendlies were played. After two wins and a draw in the first, the preparation ended with defeat. On Wednesday, November 16, they won 2-0 against Tunisia, who also managed to qualify for the World Cup.

 

Even amidst the confusion, under the direction of Argentine coach Gustavo Alvaro, Ecuador played six friendly matches after the end of their campaign in the South American Qualifiers. It remained undefeated. There were two victories (Nigeria and Cape Verde, teams that did not qualify for the World Cup) and four draws (Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Japan, which are in the World Cup, and Panama, which was left out).

 

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