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Cody Gakpo of the Netherlands and England's Bukayo Saka

Cody Gakpo of the Netherlands and England's Bukayo Saka

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FIFA World Cup 2022™

Matchday 2 as it happened: England, Netherlands off the mark amid USA-Wales stalemate

Join us for Matchday 2 as we bring you the key moments and highlights from today's FIFA World Cup fixtures.

Cody Gakpo of the Netherlands and England's Bukayo Saka

Cody Gakpo of the Netherlands and England's Bukayo Saka

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Half-time whistle blows
HT - The referee calls an end to the first half

The players walk down the tunnel after an entertaining first half saw England assert their dominance over IR Iran.

Goals from Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling have given the Three Lions a 3-0 lead over their Group B rivals.
England score two goals in a trice
45+1 - Saka, Sterling strike in a trice!

It's just gone from bad to worse for Iran, who have now fallen three goals behind thanks to Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling.

Saka's volley doubled England's lead and, three minutes later, Sterling ensured their dominant first-half display had three goals to show for it.
Bellingham gives England the lead
35' - Bellingham scores for England!

Luke Shaw's cross into the box is helped on by Jude Bellingham, leaving Hossein Hosseini with little hope as it falls into the back of the net.
It's a deserved goal for the Three Lions, who have had the majority of the ball in Iran's half.
Play resumes after lengthy delay
20' - Beiranvand departs on a stretcher

The first half has resumed after the withdrawal of Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand.

Play was stopped for more than 10 minutes after Beiranvand collided with Majid Hosseini - the 30-year-old later taken off on a stretcher.

Hossein Hosseini has since taken his place in goal and will attempt to keep England at bay.
First half under way
1' - Kick-off

We are underway with the start of the first half at Khalifa International Stadium.
IR Iran Stats
· IR Iran have a 51% chance of progressing to the knockout phase. They are more favoured than USA (48%) and Wales (37%) to advance from Group B.

· Two teams at the 2022 edition have competed in multiple World Cups and never progressed to the knockout phase: IR Iran and Tunisia (both 5). The only team to make more World Cup appearances without ever reaching the knockout phase are Scotland (8).

· In IR Iran's five World Cup campaigns, they finished third in their group on two occasions (1998, 2018) and bottom of their group three times (1978, 2006, 2014). Their best record at the tournament is W1-D1-L1 in 2018, finishing only one point behind Spain and Portugal.

· IR Iran won two of their 15 World Cup matches (W2-D4-L9): 2-1 against USA in Lyon in 1998 (goals by Hamid Estili and Mehdi Mahdavikia) and 1-0 versus Morocco in St. Petersburg in 2018 (95th-minute own goal by Aziz Bouhaddouz).

· IR Iran lost their opening match in each of their first three World Cup appearances (1978, 1998, 2006), but drew 0-0 versus Nigeria in 2014 and won 1-0 against Morocco in 2018.

· IR Iran qualified for the 2022 World Cup after finishing top of Group A in the third round of AFC qualifying. In all rounds of qualifying, Sardar Azmoun (10) was their leading goalscorer and Hossein Kanaani (17) was their leading appearance maker.

· Carlos Queiroz returned for a second spell as IR Iran manager in September 2022, after Dragan Skocic was sacked despite leading the team to World Cup qualification. They have lost one of their four games since Queiroz was reappointed (W2-D1-L1), a 2-0 defeat versus Tunisia in Al Rayyan in their final pre-tournament friendly on 16 November.

· This is the fourth World Cup as a manager for Queiroz. He was in charge of IR Iran in 2014 and 2018, after he guided Portugal to the 2010 tournament (eliminated by Spain in the round of last 16).

· Queiroz guided Portugal to a 7-0 win against Korea DPR in the 2010 World Cup group stage. His teams have scored only three goals in their other nine World Cup games (including one own goal and one penalty).


Courtesy of Gracenote
England Stats
· England have a 3% chance of winning the tournament. This makes them the 10th favourites to lift the trophy.

· England are one of eight teams to have won the World Cup. They lifted the trophy on home soil after a 4-2 win after extra-time against West Germany in the final at Wembley Stadium. Geoff Hurst scored what remains the only hat-trick in a World Cup final (it is also the most recent World Cup hat-trick by a player from the host nation).

· England (1966) and Spain (2010) are the two World Cup winners to have won the trophy only once. The multiple winners are Brazil (5), Italy (4), (West) Germany (4), Uruguay (2), Argentina (2) and France (2).

· Since winning the trophy in 1966, England's best World Cup performance was fourth in 1990 under Bobby Robson (lost on penalties versus West Germany in the semi-finals) and 2018 under Gareth Southgate (lost 2-1 after extra time versus Croatia in the semi-finals despite leading after Kieran Trippier scored a fifth-minute free-kick).

· England were eliminated in the first group stage in three of their 15 appearances at the World Cup (1950, 1958, 2014). They failed to win a game in 1958 and 2014.

· England's record in World Cup opening matches is W6-D6-L3. The three defeats were in 1962 (2-1 versus Hungary), 1986 (1-0 versus Portugal) and 2014 (2-1 versus Italy).

· England's opening game of the 2018 World Cup was a 2-1 victory against Tunisia (91st-minute winner by Harry Kane). The Three Lions can win their opening match in consecutive participations for the second time, after 1970 and 1982 (failed to qualify in 1974 and 1978).

· England were runners-up at EURO 2020, losing the final on penalties against Italy at Wembley Stadium. France won the 2018 World Cup after losing the EURO 2016 final on home soil.

· England qualified for the 2022 World Cup after winning Group I in UEFA qualifying, remaining unbeaten in all 10 qualifiers (W8-D2-L0). The Three Lions (39) were the leading goalscorers in UEFA qualifying.

· Harry Kane was level alongside Memphis Depay (both 12) as the leading goalscorer in UEFA qualifying for the 2022 World Cup. John Stones (9) was England's leading appearance maker in qualifying.

· England are winless in six matches (W0-D3-L3, all Nations League), since a 3-0 friendly victory against Côte d'Ivoire at Wembley Stadium on 29 March. They can equal the national record of seven consecutive winless games, set from May to October 1958 (which included all four matches at the 1958 World Cup).


Courtesy of Gracenote
Head-to-Head: England v IR Iran
· This is the first match between England and IR Iran that is classed as official by both nations. Iran defeated England 1-0 in a friendly in Tehran on 9 January 1943, but it is classed as unofficial by the English.

· This is the fifth successive World Cup England have played an official fixture versus an opponent for the first time. This also happened against Trinidad and Tobago (2-0 win in 2006), Algeria (0-0 draw in 2010), Costa Rica (0-0 draw in 2014) and Panama (6-1 win in 2018).

· England's only World Cup game against a team from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) was a 1-0 win versus Kuwait in Bilbao in the 1982 group stage. Trevor Francis scored the goal for Ron Greenwood's side.

· England are unbeaten in all 10 matches versus AFC opposition (W6-D4-L0). The most recent of those was a 2-1 friendly victory against Australia in Sunderland on 27 May 2016 (including a goal by Marcus Rashford three minutes into his senior international debut).

· IR Iran are winless in all eight World Cup fixtures against UEFA opposition (W0-D2-L6), scoring only three goals. The two games they avoided defeat were 1-1 draws versus Scotland in 1978 and Portugal in 2018.

· Since the 2018 World Cup, IR Iran's only game versus UEFA opposition was a 2-0 friendly win against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo on 12 November 2020 (goals by Kaveh Rezaei and Mehdi Ghayedi).


Courtesy of Gracenote
Netherlands Stats
The Netherlands are the only team to have played at least three World Cup finals and never won the trophy. Those three final defeats were in 1974 (2-1 vs hosts West Germany), 1978 (3-1 after extra time vs hosts Argentina) and 2010 (1-0 after extra time vs Spain).

The Netherlands have won each of their last six World Cup group stage matches. Only Belgium (7, 2002-running) are on a longer active winning run in World Cup group stage fixtures.

Memphis Depay scored 12 goals in 2022 World Cup qualification, joint-most in the UEFA zone alongside Harry Kane. Only United Arab Emirates' Ali Ahmed Mabkhout (14) and Canada's Cyle Larin (13) netted more goals in 2022 World Cup qualification (all zones).

Remko Pasveer will be age 39 years and 13 days old on the day of the match against Senegal. He can become the oldest player for the Netherlands at a major tournament, surpassing Maarten Stekelenburg (38y-278d) in a 2-0 defeat against Czechia in Budapest in the EURO 2020 round of last 16.

The Netherlands are unbeaten in all of their 15 international fixtures since Louis van Gaal began his third stint as coach (W11-D4-L0, from September 2021 onwards). Of all 2022 World Cup teams, only Argentina (36) and Brazil (15) are currently unbeaten in as many games.
READ MORE

Feast or famine for The Netherlands as van Gaal faces selection decisions

Mane-less Senegal still stern test for confident Netherlands

Senegal Stats
Senegal are the only team to win AND lose a World Cup match by a golden goal (format used in 1998 and 2002). In the 2002 tournament, a golden goal saw them progress against Sweden in the round of last 16 and eliminated by Türkiye in the quarter-finals.

In the 2018 World Cup group stage, Senegal and Japan were level (behind group winners Colombia) on points (4), goals scored (4), and goals conceded (4), and the match between the two nations had ended 2-2. Japan progressed as their fair play ranking of -4 (four yellow cards) was better than Senegal's -6 (six yellow cards) in all group stage games.

Senegal are the reigning Africa Cup of Nations winners, beating Egypt on penalties in the final on 6 February 2022 (0-0, 4-2 after a penalty shootout). The previous holders of the AFCON trophy to be present at the World Cup were DR Congo (Zaire) in 1974 (group stage), Nigeria in 1994 (last 16), Cameroon in 2002 (group stage) and Nigeria in 2014 (last 16).

Sadio Mané will miss this World Cup due to injury. He is Senegal's all-time top scorer on 34 international goals.

Senegal coach Aliou Cissé has been involved in all World Cup campaigns of Senegal. He was captain in 2002 and manager of the team in 2018 and 2022.

Head-to-Head: Senegal v Netherlands
This is the first encounter between Senegal and Netherlands in all competitions.

Senegal and Netherlands have qualified for the World Cup together for the first time. The Dutch failed to qualify for the two World Cups in which Senegal appeared (2002, 2018).

Group A of the 2022 World Cup is the only group in which as many as three teams were not present at the 2018 World Cup: Qatar, Netherlands and Ecuador. Senegal are the only team in this group that also competed at the 2018 World Cup.


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