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Iran vs England: There’s still an Asian-class football gap

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What a surprise flying start for England as they hit the proverbial six with an unexpected 6-2 win in their opening World Cup match against Iran. Six goals look super on paper. But conceding twice against 20th-ranked Iran doesn’t reflect well with England coach Darren Southgate who rightly urged his team to buck up.

Even former award-winning Singapore coach Jita, who saw the match in Qatar, said: “Iran lost their plot after the two goals they conceded. Perhaps they stumbled after the unfortunate circumstance of them having to replace the first-choice goalkeeper through injury may have contributed to the thrashing.”

BACKLINE CRACKED

He added that Iran’s backline also looked suspicious as they were “caught off guard on a number of times… the victory now puts England on a good platform but let’s see how they continue their journey”.

England, World Cup semi-finalists in 2018 and European Championship runners-up last year, came to Qatar on the back of a six-game winless run. But they quickly found their feet at the Khalifa International Stadium, totally dominating the match.

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“By England’s standards and the players they’ve got, we know it hasn’t been good enough. But it’s a World Cup stage, you can see there was real fire in their stomachs to go out there and prove a lot of people wrong,” added Jita.

RISE OF TWO YOUNGSTERS

He commended two youngsters in 19-year-old Jude Belingham (Germany’s Borussia Dortmund) and 21-year-old Bukayo Saka (Arsenal) for their rise-to-the-occasion form which made the major difference in this rout. Both are now, not surprisingly, eyed by Liverpool!

And now for Iran, it begs the biggest talking point: Is there still an Asian-class football gap at the highest World Cup level? Pray you to tell me, please.


Suresh Nair is an award-winning sports journalist who is also a qualified international coach and international referee instructor

There’s still an Asian-class football gap

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