In the opening match of Group B of the 2022 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament, England and Iran face off in a highly anticipated match. Prior to the match, it was widely expected that England, last year's European runners-up, would beat Iran. However, England have gone 450 minutes (five matches) without scoring a goal through sport on the international stage, making their ability to find their shooting touch in the match the key to victory.
Iran, as expected, adopted a 541 defensive formation in an attempt to seek counter-attack opportunities through intensive defense. England, on the other hand, adopted a 433 formation and seemed to have a slight advantage in terms of skill and luck. Only 10 minutes into the match, England had a number of good opportunities to attack. During a corner kick, Iranian keeper Beiranvand was seriously injured after accidentally hitting a teammate and had to be replaced by substitute keeper Hosseini, whose absence from the Iranian backline made it even more chaotic. England came close to scoring from a corner kick in the 33rd minute of the first half, and Bellingham's header in the 35th minute opened the door to victory for England. The goal emphasized the importance of the keeper's experience, and Shaw's cross, which Hosseini attempted to block, failed to reach the ball, which could not be returned to the line, and he could only watch as the ball flew into the net. The goal was undoubtedly fatal for Iran, who needed to score at least two goals to win the game, and a goal to get a draw and a point. This forced Iran to change its formation to take the opposite attack, the original attack more to 3 to 5 people involved, other players are mainly responsible for defense. However, after conceding a goal, Iran had to press the attack more, giving England more space. Despite Maguire's ability to compete for headers, the Iranian defense paid the price with frequent errors in their staring. The second goal was conceded when Saka was missed again in a header, and the game was decided. In the second half, England continued to strengthen the attack, Iran's attack was weak, but defensive errors allowed England to score two goals in just three minutes, leading 3-0 at half time, almost predicting the final outcome of the game.
After the intermission, England continued to keep up the attack, and Iran still had not found an effective means of attack. However, Iran's attack made the backline undermanned and inexperienced in defense, and England scored again in the 60th minute of the second half in a quick counterattack. Saka, the standout performer, tricked the Iranian four-man defense into space with excellent dummies to get a shot on goal. Although Iran scored a goal in the 65th minute through group play, a poor backline performance allowed Rashford, who had just come on in the 70th minute, to score quickly. It wasn't that Iran didn't have any bright spots in this game, it was just that their backline made too many mistakes, resulting in multiple defenders being deceived by a single dummy move when one attacked, giving the opponents space and angles to shoot, and ultimately leading to a big loss.
Objectively speaking, this game was probably doomed to a big loss when the goalie change was made in the first half. The goalkeeper was crucial to the command and stability of the backline. If there had been no goalkeeping errors in the first half and the offside trap could have been commanded, England may have only been able to take a 1-0 lead, with the outcome of the game still unknown. The second half exposed the inexperience of the Iranian defenders.
