Three key areas Gareth Southgate must exploit for England to win World Cup 2022 opener against Iran
LAST summer, the Lionesses lifted the Women’s European Championship, beating Germany after extra-time to win the nation’s first trophy since 1966.
Can Gareth Southgate’s men go one step further and bring home the greatest prize in the sport, matching the feat of Alf Ramsey’s heroes 56 years ago?
England take on Iran at the Khalifa International Stadium and many supporters will recognise the face of the man in the opposite dugout as Sir Alex Ferguson’s former assistant manager Carlos Queiroz.
This will be Queiroz’s fourth consecutive World Cup as a manager, having been in charge of Portugal in South Africa in 2010 and Iran in both 2014 and 2018.
It is the 69-year-old’s second stint with Iran but will be his third time marching his players out onto the grandest stage in football, making him the longest reigning manager in the country’s history.
England are comfortably the favourites to win this Group B opener, but Queiroz’s teams are notably pragmatic, dogged and determined.
READ MORE ON THE WORLD CUP
Claiming all three points will be massive for the Three Lions to get up and running early on, putting nerves to bed and easing some pressure off of Southgate’s shoulders after some recent torrid displays from a team winless in six competitive matches.
Here are three key areas where this game can be won and lost for England and Iran.
The importance of Bellingham
When England reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, bowing out to a hyper-charged Croatia in the end, Jude Bellingham was just 15 years old.
Despite being an unearthed gem rising through Birmingham City’s youth academy, nobody outside of the club had heard of the teenager with talent in abundance.
Most read in Football
Fast forward four years later and Bellingham is already one of the best midfielders in Europe at the ripe age of 19 and is being linked with some of Europe’s elite including Manchester United, Real Madrid and Manchester City for upwards of £100 million.
If England go far in the Qatar World Cup, potentially even winning the prestigious competition, Bellingham will certainly be the key.
Nonetheless, regarding Monday’s opponents, Bellingham will be vital to helping Southgate’s side break through Iran during attacking transitions.
The teenager is unbelievably quick for a central midfield player which is one of the reasons why Bellingham was shoehorned out to the flanks upon arrival at Borussia Dortmund in 2020.
On top of this, he is explosive on the ball and is able to burst through pressure from onrushing defenders, beating them with his exceptional dribbling.
For the most part, Bellingham’s wonderful dribbling won’t be overly helpful for Southgate’s England in this match due to Iran being likely to sit back and soak up pressure.
However, there will be times when Iran are forced to come out and be a little more expansive with their play.
When these moments occur, Bellingham will be vital for hitting the Middle Easterners on the break.
Being on the backfoot against a counterattack is one area where Iran have really struggled under Queiroz.
The manager is keen for his side to counterpress upon losing possession, bunching together to regain the ball and stopping the opposition’s counter as far up the pitch as possible.
Unfortunately, this has left the side exploitable at times once the initial counterpress is broken.
Counterpressing is when a team hunts down the ball in packs in a structured manner as soon as possession is turned over to the hands of the opposition.
Plenty of sides in the modern game counterpress. The likes of Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola revolutionised the football over the last decade by integrating fascinating methods of this into their tactics.
The key factor for this to be a success is having energy in the midfield.
But with the average age of Iran’s squad at this World Cup at 28.9, the oldest at the tournament, counterpressing will be more difficult due to Queiroz favouring experience over youth.
This is where Bellingham can tear them to shreds, using his explosive speed and dribbling to bypass midfield pressure and beating the counterpress to leave the defensive line vulnerable.
England’s backline
A lot has been said about the defenders Southgate chose to give a seat to on the plane to Qatar.
Manchester United's Harry Maguire and Tottenham's Eric Dier were picked by the manager who opted to leave Fikayo Tomori at home in Milan, dealing a massive blow to the confidence of the AC Milan star.
Even though England’s results have been below par recently, with notably poor displays from Maguire and Dier, it is likely the duo will be involved as two-thirds of Southgate’s back three.
The former Middlesbrough manager’s favoured central defensive trio has been Maguire on the left, Dier in the middle with Kyle Walker as the right centre-back.
Out of possession, Southgate needs his centre-backs to be aggressive.
When the ball is moved between the lines and the midfielders are already occupied, the defenders must step out and close the opposition player down to try and snuff out the danger.
Playing with a back three makes it easier for central defenders to be aggressive than in a two-man partnership.
This is because when one steps up to close down an opponent there are still two covering behind that can plug the vacant space.
However, if this space isn’t closed by the remaining centre-backs, it can leave a lot of room for opposition forwards to run into which can be dangerous given the lack of speed from Maguire and Dier.
Iran will look to exploit this throughout the match and it will likely give Team Melli the greatest opportunity to score.
By nature, Queiroz’s side are extremely direct, always looking to play longer passes into the channels to runners in behind.
If Iran can drag Walker deeper and get in behind Maguire and Dier with players such as FC Porto’s prolific star Mehdi Taremi or Omonia Nicosia’s Karim Ansarifard they will cause damage to England.
Play between the lines
Iran are really well-drilled under Queiroz which is a testimony to the manager as well as his predecessor Dragan Skočić with whom the national team qualified for the World Cup.
Defensively, Iran press high up the pitch, especially against opponents of a similar or lesser quality. But in games versus better opponents, Iran usually drop into a low block.
This is to ensure the distance between the backline and the goalkeeper is minimal to prevent the attacking side from playing to runners in behind the defence.
Uruguay suffered from this rigid gameplan back in September in a 1-0 defeat to Iran.
The potent Uruguayan frontline, including Liverpool’s £85 million man Darwin Nunez, posed little to no threat thanks to the excellent structure of Team Melli.
Queiroz has set his players up in a 4-3-3 so far during his brief second stint. When Iran defend this drops into a 4-1-4-1 as the wingers fall back to the midfield line.
That’s not to say Iran are impossible to break down, far from it. The team still have flaws during games that can be exploited.
One of the keys to breaking down a low block is to get the ball into space between the lines as teams can create better chances centrally than out wide.
Playing through a block like this requires a high level of technical competency, something England have in abundance with players such as Mason Mount, Raheem Sterling, Jack Grealish and James Maddison.
Iran struggle when the attacking side quickly plays the ball between the lines and the lack of energy in the team rears its ugly head as the players are unable to get to the ball fast enough to intercept passes.
Southgate normally deploys two ‘10’s in the England team, with two inside wingers acting as playmakers in a 3-4-2-1 in a similar vein to how Chelsea won the Champions League under Thomas Tuchel.
It's unclear which combination of players Southgate will use but it’s relatively certain that Mount will be involved in the starting lineup due to his ability to break open low blocks.
Read More on The Sun
What does this all mean?
England are clear favourites to beat Iran.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Queiroz’s side could end up being the whipping boys of a tough group if Southgate’s men win in emphatic fashion in the group opener.
But failure to pick up an early three points would lead to intense pressure re-emerging on the shoulders of the England coach and would feel highly reminiscent of the national side’s World Cup struggles in 2010 and 2014.