football | Friday, November 18, 2022 4:41 PM (Revised at: Monday, November 21, 2022 2:34 PM)

England vs Iran Bet Builder: England To Open World Cup With Win

Jack Wright

England vs Iran Bet Builder: Monday, November, 21st

The first winter World Cup is finally here and I have pored over the stats to bring you my England vs Iran bet builder tips. The Khalifa International Stadium, Doha plays host as the Three Lions get their campaign underway on Monday lunchtime.

In this article:

England vs Iran Preview
England vs Iran Stats & Facts
England vs Iran Bet Builder

England vs Iran Preview

Monday, November 21st, 13:00 (UK)

An under-pressure Gareth Southgate takes his side to Doha looking to make it a hat-trick of opening fixture victories in major knockout tournaments. The England manager now not only finds himself under pressure to deliver a first trophy in nearly 60 years AND with a pleasing-on-the-eye style.

But also due to the fact he must halt a six-game winless streak. Southgate does of course have a strong tournament record with the national side. A semi-final defeat in Russia four years ago was followed by last summer’s penalty shootout heartache to Italy in the European Championship final at Wembley. But a disappointing Nations League campaign which culminated in relegation to League B means claiming all three points against Iran is imperative.

A familiar face stands in their way. Carlos Queiroz is back for a second spell in charge of “Team Melli”. Sir Alex Ferguson’s former assistant will ensure his charges are no pushover. His teams are generally well organised, resilient and defensively sound.

The 69-year-old is only four games into his latest stint in charge. The midweek friendly with Tunisia brought his first defeat. That 2-0 reverse followed two 1-0 victories against Uruguay and Nicaragua as well as a 1-1 draw with Senegal.

The Mozambique-born coach took over from his predecessor Dragan Skocic in September. The Croatian had steered the team to qualification from the Asian section with eight wins in 10 games. Finishing two points clear of 2nd- placed South Korea.

England vs Iran Preview Stats & Facts

This will be the first ever encounter between England and Iran.
12 of England’s last 18 goals at the World Cup have been scored from set-pieces. With 75% of their goals in 2018 came from dead ball situations.
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).
England striker Harry Kane was the top scorer in the 2018 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.
Despite only playing six times, no Iran player was involved in more goals during the third round of Asian World Cup qualifying than Mehdi Taremi (4 goals, 2 assists).

England vs Iran Bet Builder

Just like England, I feel it is important to get this World Cup off to a successful start. Solid if unspectacular selections to ultimately produce a positive result.

Six years under Gareth Southgate means that the Three Lions have a very settled way of playing even if it’s not particularly popular with their supporters. Despite this, the manager will continue to do it his way. Looking to control games and be solid defensively, safe in the knowledge they have a ruthless marksman to take a chance when it comes his way. Or, as mentioned above, from a trademark set-piece. Whenever or however it comes matters not but albeit at a prohibitive price England will surely have enough to edge this game.

A trademark of this Southgate era in knockout competition is building on solid foundations. Keep things tight at the back as illustrated by keeping clean sheets in their first five games at last summer’s European Championship. There has been one goal scored in the opening 45 minutes in England’s last six competitive fixtures. While they have only conceded twice in the last 14 opening periods.

England’s group games at the Euros ended 1-0, 0-0 & 1-0. With this clash being against a like-minded opponent it points towards another tight encounter. Although Carlos Queiroz is in the early stages of his second spell with Iran we do have his initial reign between 2011 and 2019 to use. Conceding just 60 goals across 100 games in charge speaks for itself.

Allowing multiple strikes in only 12 of those further emphasises how competitive he made his teams. A direct comparison can be made to the 2018 tournament when Iran were drawn in the same group as Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Only one first-half goal was scored across the three games which ended 0-1, 1-1 and 1-0 respectively.

So with two pragmatic, risk-averse, conservative coaches on show playing a low scoring first half looks a shrewd option.