The biggest sporting event in the world continues with the Group B England v Iran clash that will be the first leg on the World Cup coming home.
With so many games and so little time, our Group B England v Iran Match Centre tries to sum it all up as quickly as possible before and after the game. We watch and follow the game so you don’t have to.
With answers to the key questions prior to the match and our Minutes that Mattered summary and stats post game, it is a real Who Cares guide to the 2022 World Cup for the person on the go.
Enjoy the Group B England v Iran Match Centre.
Group B England v Iran Match Review
England equaled their record World Cup score with a 6-2 thrashing of Iran in their opening game of the World Cup. They were awesome and sent a message to the rest of the competition.
Minutes that Mattered
Welcome to the briefest of match summaries, like a minute by minute you find on professional websites except one that has only the minutes that matter. All wheat, no chaff.
And if the below isn’t enough, for those in Australia you can catch up via the SBS World Cup on Demand.
2′ Min – England are on the attack early, and a beautiful cross from Kieran Trippier probably should have had more support. They get a first corner though as an end result though. No goal, but a bright enough start. England appeal for a penalty, and looking at replays, two of England’s attackers were obviously tackled to the ground. Perhaps Iran got confused with the recently completed Rugby League World Cup. Although, we have no records of Iran playing rugby league nor an indication they want to.
7′ Min – England get a first set piece of the game, and it was a sneaky pass to the right instead of a launch into the box. Harry Kane’s cross was good but no one there to meet it. There’s goals in the air here for England if they can get into the right place at the right time. Meanwhile a nasty head clash in among the scramble between the Iranian goal keeper and an Iran defender leads to a very lengthy delay. The keeper shouldn’t be allowed to play on if they are serious about concussions. They aren’t, and after eight minutes of checking he’s allowed to play on. Joke.
17′ Min – The Iran keeper Beyranvand does go off after he lies down in back play. Doctors should be appalled with themselves to be honest.
19′ Min – Football is back on now and England continue to dominate by passing it among themselves.
21′ Min – Time for England to defend now, as Iran are awarded a foul out wide but in line with the penalty box. Iran’s first attack fizzle out.
25′ Min – England at this stage have had 75% of the possession. But the game is slowly descending into a hack-fest of player’s feet and legs. The first yellow card of the game went to Jahanbakhsh, and there will be many more to come.
29′ Min – Mason Mount hits the side netting after a low cross from Saka, England aren’t far away from scoring here. Another corner came a few minutes later too. Harry Maguire hits the crossbar from a header but no dice again for England. They really should score soon.
35′ Min – GOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL FOR ENGLAND
After some near misses, England attack down the left and the cross from Luke Shaw is met perfectly by Jude Bellingham who glances it perfectly into the top right corner of the net.
ENGLAND 1 IRAN 0
42′ Min – England still pressing, and have earned another corner. And this one is successful……
43′ Min – GOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL FOR ENGLAND
A long floating cross from the corner is headed down sideways by Harry Maguire on the edge of the box, and it falls to Bukayo Saka who gives himself room and he blasts it into the top right corner of the net. England go two up, and it’s the least they deserve.
ENGLAND 2 IRAN 0
45′ +1 Min – GOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL FOR ENGLAND
A loose ball is pounced upon by Jude Bellingham just inside the England half, and he pushes through the middle then passes out wide to Harry Kane, who then continues down the right and sends in a sharp cross which Raheem Sterling meets with the outside of his boot in mid air to score England’s third.
ENGLAND 3 IRAN 0
45 + 10′ Min – There should be a mercy rule for fans with the 14 minutes of extra time, surely we could end that on ten minutes. England seem in no mood to be too expansive, and Iran are shell shocked, so the you just know this second half is going to suck.
England thoroughly deserve their 3-0 half time lead, but let’s hope with competition for spots that they keep playing football in the second half. Iran offered next to nothing, and have been disappointing.
HALF TIME – ENGLAND 3 IRAN 0
48′ Min – Free kick to England, but at what price? Harry Kane is hacked from behind on the edge of the penalty area. The tackle hurts his ankle, so not sure if we’ve seen the last of him for tonight. The free kick went nowhere for the record.
54′ Min – Three corners in quick succession for England and a Raheem Sterling break through the middle lead nowhere for now. England still well on top here.
61′ Min – GOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL FOR ENGLAND
Bukayo Saka gets the ball just outside the edge of the penalty box after lead up work from Raheem Sterling, and he jinks, steps, and avoids the Iranian defence, all five of them in between him and the goal, and drills the ball low into the left side of the goal.
ENGLAND 4 IRAN 0
64′ Min – GOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL FOR IRAN
Straight from the kick off after England’s fourth goal, Iran hit back. They went on the attack in England’s final third and eventually broke through for a surprise goal. Iran’s Taremi was the goal scorer after he met a beautiful through ball from Ali Gholizadeh. In other news Harry Maguire went off injured, England were just about to bring on four subs anyway.
ENGLAND 4 IRAN 1
69′ Min – The goal has sparked Iran into life, so perhaps this second half won’t be as boring as shit after all.
71′ Min – GOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL FOR ENGLAND
Less than a minute after four subs came on for England and one of them were on the scorers list. After an upfield launch from keeper Pickford, Harry Kane controlled the ball and gave the pass to Marcus Rashford on the edge of the penalty area. Rashford jinked and got around a few defenders then nailed the shot around the goalkeeper to score.
ENGLAND 5 IRAN 1
80′ Min – Cramps are starting to set in. You get the feeling this game is going for the longest World Cup game. Soon enough we find out that ten minutes of added time is added to the second half after 14 minutes were added to the first half.
90′ Min – GOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL FOR ENGLAND
England scored a breakaway goal, with some slick passing and movement proving too much for Iran again. Jude Bellingham put the ball through for Callum Wilson who flew down the right, and once he hit the penalty box he provided a side pass for Jack Grealish to push the ball home and score England’s sixth.
ENGLAND 6 IRAN 1
90′ + 7 Min – Iran nearly sneak an extra goal at the end, with the shots slamming into the woodwork.
90′ + 9 Min – Iran have a free kick just outside the penalty area for England, and while the play didn’t end in a goal, Iran appeal for a penalty and the referee goes to VAR for holding on or interference we presume. What this game didn’t need was to waste another three minutes making the decision.
VAR PENALTY GIVEN
90′ + 11 Min – GOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL FOR IRAN
Taremi sends Jordan Pickford the wrong way from the penalty spot and scores his and Iran’s second goal.
ENGLAND 6 IRAN 2
And that is finally it. The game taking two and a half hours to finish.
Final Score
ENGLAND 6
Bellingham 35′ Saka 43′ Stirling 45′ + 1 Saka 61′ Rashford 71′ Grealish 90′
IRAN 1
Taremi 64′ Taremi 90′ + 11 (pen)
HT England 3-0
Player of the Match
Bukayo Saka or Jude Bellingham
Points of Interest
- First of all, there’s no need to cram in another McDonalds after the national anthems so we miss part of the actual coverage.
- 14 minutes of extra time for the first half should be a record. In fairness to the game, the Iranian goal keeper should never have been allowed to continue at first.
- Even commentating god Martin Tyler sounded like he was getting bored of the game. His delivery just seemed lower key than usual.
- Jude Bellingham just raised his transfer costs by a few million. He looks likely to end up at Liverpool.
Group B England v Iran Match Stats
Group B England v Iran Starting Teams
ENGLAND (4-2-3-1)
GK – 1 Pickford
DEF – 12 Trippier
DEF – 5 Stones
DEF – 6 Maguire
DEF – 3 Shaw
MID – 22 Bellingham
MID – 4 Rice
MID – 17 Saka
MID – 19 Mount
MID – 10 Sterling
FWD – 9 Kane
IRAN (4-3-3)
GK – 1 Beyranvand
DEF – 2 Moharrami
DEF – 8 Pouraliganji
DEF – 15 Cheshmi
DEF – 19 Hosseini
DEF – 5 Mohammadi
MID – 21 Noorollahi
MID – 18 Karimi
MID – 3 Hajisafi
FWD – 7 Jahanbakhsh
FWD – 9 Taremi
KICKOFF – MONDAY 21st NOV – 16:00 (QATAR) 13:00 (UK) 0:00 (AEDT)
Group B England v Iran Match Preview
Why should you care?
Because this is the first step towards a certain trophy “coming home”. England games always carry that little extra interest, because it seems around a World Cup everyone has at least one English friend who will be an emotional wreck for the next month. The highs are beating Iran here, to the lows of whichever knockout round they are eventually knocked out of.
Interestingly, these teams have never met, which is surprising given the rich football history of both. England have played a team like San Marino eight times but Iran none.
But this game will give us an early indication of what powerhouse England are going to do in Qatar. Ready the hype.
Who should you care about?
Perennial sad panda Harry Kane is key. The man whose golden boot took England to semi final football at the last World Cup is key again, and he’d better not get injured.
Jordan Pickford is one to watch to see if it is going to be one of those World Cups for the England keeper, or a good one.
And our final player to care about is Jude Bellingham. The current only player not to be playing in England in their squad probably will be by next season, or a big trip to Madrid. Hopefully he gets into the starting side and England don’t go for too much experience.
We don’t know too many Iran players if we’re honest, but we do remember a certain piece of magic from the 2018 World Cup and are glad that this player is returning for 2022. Milad Mohammadi pulled out the old somersault throw-in with his side chasing an equaliser late in the game. Take a look below, and keep an eye out for more magic.
Full 2022 World Cup Squads & Stats
Is there a barely interesting fact?
Iran, Australia and Tunisia all have the same World Cup record in Group Stages – and it is the third lowest win % of all the teams at this year’s World Cup.
England’s only game v an Asian nation at the World Cup was in 1982 and was against Kuwait. They won 1-0.
Who will win?
England 2 Iran 0
Full 2022 World Cup Predictions
Group B England v Iran Match Review
Minutes that Mattered
Welcome to the briefest of match summaries, like a minute by minute except one that has only the minutes that matter.
Stay tuned after the match.
Group B England v Iran Match Stats
Coming after the match.
