England vs. Iran: Prediction and Preview

England and Iran are playing in the 2022 World Cup.

England and Iran are playing each other in their World Cup opener on Monday. England reached the semi-finals in 2018 and the final of Euro 2020. Iran had an impressive qualifying campaign, winning eight of 10 games and conceding just four goals. Carlos Queiroz's team lost 2-0 to Tunisia in a friendly on Wednesday. This will be Queirroz’s fourth consecutive World cup as a head coach. Eric Dier is not concerned about the high temperatures in Qatar. The match starts at 4 pm local time.  

Harry Kane has been instrumental to England's last two World Cup and European Championship runs. He won the golden boot at the 2018 World cup and was joint-top scorer in European qualifying for this World Championship.

Mehdi Taremi has scored 60 goals in 109 games for Rio Ave and Porto since 2019-20. He was involved in four goals during the third round of Asian World Cup qualifying. Sardar Azmoun has 40 goals for his country and 13 goals this season for Portos.

England are heavy favourites for the match. According to the supercomputer's prediction model, England have a 72.2% chance of opening with a win. Iran have just a 9.7% of victory.