Welcome to Sportstar’s Day 2 build-up for the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, with three matches awaiting us.
DAY 2: Qatar 2022 UPDATES
FIFA World Cup, Group B: England, USA, Wales, Iran team guide, preview
This is a strong group with all four teams ranked in the top 20, which will make it one of the most tightly-contested groups. England will be the favourite to make the knockouts followed by the USA with Wales — Gareth Bale in particular — and Iran looking to spring a surprise.
While four strong teams are grouped together, it’s more likely the teams will adopt a tournament-style pragmatic football and not go gung-ho in attack. And the teams have coaches in Gareth Southgate (England), Gregg Berhalter (USA) and Carlos Queiroz (Iran), who focus on minimising turnover in possession or minimising spaces to get in behind. Wales’ Rob Page is a relative newcomer to the international stage.
There have been several calls made to FIFA asking for the suspension of Iran, due to the country’s refusal to allow women to stadiums, but they will be lining up against England for the first time as they get the ball rolling on November 21.
FIXTURES:
ENGLAND VS IRAN – 6:30 PM IST
SENEGAL VS NETHERLANDS – 9:30 PM IST
USA VS WALES – 12:30 AM IST