🇶🇦 FIFA World Cup 2022 - Round One: Opening Ceremony, Match Previews, Fixtures, Stats, Results, Live Updates and More

[Goodness]

England vs Iran Key Stats

• Monday’s match will be the first ever encounter between England and Iran. The Islamic Republic have never beaten European opposition at the FIFA World Cup (D2 L6).

• England are the only European team to have reached the semi-finals in each of the last two major tournaments (FIFA World Cup + EURO).

• 12 of England’s last 18 goals at the FIFA World Cup have been scored from set-pieces. In fact, 75% of their goals in 2018 came from dead ball situations (9 out of 12).

• Iran have never progressed past the first round of the FIFA World Cup, winning only two of their 15 matches (v USA in 1998 and Morocco in 2018). This is their sixth participation in the tournament, including their third in a row.

• Iran have scored just nine goals in 15 FIFA World Cup matches; at 0.6, it’s the lowest goals-per-game ratio of any nation to play more than 10 games at the competition. They have only netted more than once in one of their 15 games, a 2-1 win over USA in 1998.

• Harry Kane was the top scorer in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with five of his six goals coming in the group stages. No player has ever been top/joint-top scorer at two different World Cup tournaments.

[Goodness]

Gareth Southgate has confirmed that England will take a knee before their World Cup opener against Iran today.

(Source: official)

[Goodness]

FIFA has banned Harry Kane from wearing the One Love armband but England are insistent he will wear it anyway.

There are concerns he could be booked as soon as the game kicks off if he wears it. ©️🏳️‍🌈

(@TeleFootball)

[Goodness]

Senegal vs Netherland preview

• This will be the first-ever match between Senegal and the Netherlands.

• The Netherlands have played African opposition four times in the World Cup and are yet to taste defeat. Three of those encounters have ended in an

Oranje win with the other resulting in a draw. Senegal have faced European opposition thrice in the FIFA World Cup group stage and are yet to taste defeat. They have won two and drawn the third.

• Senegal have won their opening game in the World Cup the last two times they qualified for the tournament. The Dutch, meanwhile, are unbeaten across their last eight tournament openers.

• Senegal have maintained just one clean sheet in FIFA World Cup history. This came all the way back in 2002 when they downed reigning champions France on their tournament debut.

• The Netherlands have not lost a group-stage match in the competition since the 1-0 loss to Belgium in 1994. In fact, the last time the Dutch tasted defeated in the tournament in a match that did not involve penalty shootouts was in the final of the 2010 edition.

[Goodness]

USA vs Wales Key Stats

• These two sides have never met in the World Cup earlier.

• This is USA’s 11th World Cup finals while this will be Wales’ second World Cup appearance.

• USA have managed only two clean sheets in their last 27 World Cup matches.

• At least one goal has been scored in USA’s 33 World Cup matches so far, the most by any side in the tournament.

[Goodness]

Jude Bellingham (19y 145d) has just become England’s youngest goalscorer in a #FIFAWorldCup match since Michael Owen (18y 190d) found the net in their 2:1 loss to Romania on 22 June 1998.

This is also his first-ever goal for England!

[Sholadoye]

Iran’s goalkeeper after clashing heads with his own defender, he tried to play on after being tended to by the medical team

[Goodness]

Jude Bellingham - 35’
Bukayo Saka - 43’
Raheem Sterling - 45+1

England have arrived at the World Cup.

[Goodness]

No player younger than 22 scored a #FIFAWorldCup goal for England ever since Michael Owen scored two goals in 1998 — today they already have two goalscorers under the age of 22:

Jude Bellingham (19y 145d)
Bukayo Saka (21y 75d)

[Goodness]

Youngest players to score for England at the men’s World Cup:

◎ Michael Owen (18y 190d)
◎ Michael Owen (18y 198d)
◉ Jude Bellingham (19y 145d)
◉ Bukayo Saka (21y 77d)

Young Lions.

[Goodness]

Bukayo Saka has now scored more World Cup goals (2) than Wayne Rooney (1) and Paul Scholes (1).

Spicy debut.

[Goodness]

Marcus Rashford has scored at a major tournament for the first time in his senior international career.

That did not take long.

[Goodness]

Marcus Rashford hadn’t touched a ball for England since that Euro 2020 penalty miss.

He only needed three touches to open his account at the World Cup

[Goodness]

50 - Marcus Rashford scored just 50 seconds after coming on for England, the third-quickest goal by a substitute in World Cup history. Impact.

[Sholadoye]

TEAM NEWS​:rotating_light:
Senegal vs Netherlands

[Sholadoye]

After their last game in a major tournament, Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford suffered racial abuse for missing penalties in the Euro final.

Today, they both scored in England’s 6-2 win over Iran

[Sholadoye]

Harry Maguire’s first half by numbers vs. Iran:

100% aerial duels won
90% pass accuracy
59 touches
8 long balls completed
1 shot off the woodwork
1 key pass
1 assist

Making an impact.

[Goodness]

An impressive England display

[Goodness]

◉ Jude Bellingham
◉ Bukayo Saka x2
◉ Raheem Sterling
◉ Marcus Rashford
◉ Jack Grealish

Every England goalscorer against Iran netted their first-ever World Cup goal in this game.

[Goodness]

9 - Gareth Southgate has won more matches at major tournaments (World Cup/EUROs) than any other England manager (9 wins), surpassing Sir Alf Ramsey’s total of eight wins. Stage.