Following the success of their Euro 2020 campaign, England is one of the favorites to win the 2022 World Cup, and Southgate is under pressure to end the country's 54-year wait for a major international trophy. Iran will be hoping to advance past the group stage for the first time in their history as they compete in their sixth World Cup.
In the opening match of Group B, England are heavy favorites to defeat Iran, so we're betting on Southgate's team to do so while maintaining a perfect record. Given their impressive performance at Euro 2020, England will face high expectations in Qatar, provided they can withstand the stifling heat. Although England should win easily on paper, we have seen powerful teams struggle in the early rounds of major tournaments in the past. However, the English are up against a team from Iran that only has a small number of players who play in one of the top five European leagues, and they have a strong defense that kept five clean sheets in Euro 2020.
Southgate has selected a lineup for the World Cup that is similar to the one that did so well at Euro 2020, but in some cases it seems like the England manager has prioritized reputation over fitness and form. Conor Gallagher, Kalvin Phillips, and even Jordan Henderson were included, which caused some to wonder why given that the first two have had injury issues this year and Gallagher has yet to display the kind of form that made him famous last season while on loan at Crystal Palace.
Omid Ebrahimi is out due to injury, but Iran has largely kept the team that everyone anticipated they would. All but three of the team selected to travel to Qatar have at least ten international appearances under their belts, and the other two are backup goalkeepers. Ehsan Hajsafi, who will captain the defense and has 121 caps and 7 goals for Iran, is the only centurion on the team. Mehdi Taremi of Porto is the player who England should pay close attention to because he is a natural goal scorer who can forge opportunities out of thin air.
