Monday Matches
England vs Iran
England fans will no doubt be looking for a thumping Group B win when the Three Lions open their World Cup and face Iran on Monday afternoon. Gareth Southgate, though, will be well aware that Iran will be no pushovers after reaching the finals in four of the last seven attempts.
Carlos Queiroz’s men have yet to get out of the group stage, but in Qatar, they will be quietly confident of bucking that trend. The troubled nation are the outsiders of four in the group, but they may give England, the USA and Wales plenty to think about. It is reasonable to expect England to get the job done at the Khalifa International Stadium, but it may not be the cakewalk that many fans expect.
Three of England’s last five tournament openers have gone under 2.5 goals -the 1-0 win over Croatia (2020), 1-1 draw with Russia (2016) and the 1-1 draw with France (2012). The other two games were a 2-1 win over Tunisia (2018) and a 2-1 loss to Italy (2014).
Traditionally England do not start well. And against a well-drilled Iranian side, we can perhaps expect a low-scoring game.
Iran will be without injured defensive midfielder Omid Ebrahimi, but they do have a number of players who play in Europe. Porto centre-forward Mehdi Taremi scored the winner in the recent 1-0 win over Uruguay, a game in which little-seen Brentford midfielder Saman Ghoddos impressed.
Bayer Leverkusen’s Sardar Azmoun is also a threat, while defender Sadegh Moharramim helped Dinamo Zagreb beat Chelsea earlier this season. Iran, though, are an ageing team. The squad’s average age is almost 29, compared with 27 and three months for the 2018 tournament in Russia. Still, they are expected to provide resilient opposition and with Queiroz saying his players are “free to protest” over women’s rights in their home country, it’s difficult to predict whether they will be solely football-focused.
But for an England side, who might just take some time to get back into the tournament groove, it could be heavy going in the baking Doha heat (4 pm local time).
Senegal vs Netherlands
The Netherlands missed out in 2018, but they will be back with a bang in Qatar and look destined for a place in the last 16. They have never been eliminated in the group stage in 10 previous World Cup appearances and they were slightly unfortunate to go out in the round of 16 at the 2020 Euros. They cruised through the group but came unstuck when Matthijs de Ligt got red carded and they lost 2-0 to the Czech Republic. With Virgilvan Dijk, Frenkie De Jong, Steven Bergwijn and Memphis Depay in their ranks they should have enough to sink a Senegal side missing Sadio Mane through injury.
Senegal, who are the Africa Cup of Nations holders, drew 1-1 with Iran recently in a warm-up game and they are 5/1 to cause a shock. However, without Mane, Aliou Cisse’s men will struggle and Louis van Gaal’s charges should open up at the Al Thumama Stadium with a win.
Tuesday Matches
Argentina vs Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia’s short trip to Qatar will be their sixth World Cup, but they have only made it out of the group stage on one occasion previously. And that record does not look like improving this time around after being drawn in Group B with Argentina, Mexico and Poland. In fact, despite qualifying comfortably Herve Renard’s 51st-ranked team look like being the whipping boys.
They warmed up for the tournament with a 1-0 defeat to Croatia on Wednesday in Riyadh and first up is a hard-looking clash with Lionel Messi’s Argentina, one of the tournament favourites.
The bookies have Saudi priced up as big as 22/1 to defeat Lionel Scaloni’s side – and looking at the two squads it’s easy to see why. It’s a very tough assignment for Saudi Arabia and Argentina are expected to win with the minimum of fuss.
Mexico vs Poland
This Group C fixture looks a tough one to call and one in which neither side will want to lose with Argentina expected to get past Saudi Arabia. The pair will both be confident of edging through into the last 16 alongside La Albiceleste. But Poland have managed to get past the group stage only once at a major tournament this century.
Mexico, on the other hand, had made the knockout stages of every World Cup since 1994. But they hardly come into the tournament in confidence with main striker Raul Jimenez not scoring from open play since 2019.
Poland, meanwhile, will play with a back three. But forget the notion that Poland will be any more expansive because in coach Czesław Michniewicz they have a pragmatist. They do have more familiar names with Robert Lewandowski leading the line, but they have an ageing defence, which could mean Michniewicz is cautious about throwing bodies forward.
It could all point to a cagey affair at Stadium 974 and if there was ever a game with 0-0 written all over it, this is it.
Suggested Bets
- England vs Iran under 2.5 goals 5/8
- England to win 1-0 7/2
- England to win 2-0 18/5
- Netherlands (-1.25 Asian handicap) to win 7/5
- Netherlands to win by two goals 14/5
- Argentina to beat Saudi Arabia to nil 8/13
- Mexico vs Poland under 2.5 goals 8/15
