Iran look to sanction England, US in World Cup showdown

DOHA: Having fought to win the respect of Iran’s football public, Dragan Skocic now has a World Cup showdown with England and a politically charged clash with the United States to cement his international standing.

England manager Gareth Southgate admitted he knew little about the Iranian team his side will face on the opening day of the World Cup after they were put together in Group B at Friday’s draw in Doha.

England have been too busy with their own matches, he said.

“We know that they finished ahead of South Korea and if they have done that we know they have some pretty good players.”

FIFA has been urged to punish Iran for refusing to let women into a stadium for their last World Cup qualifier against Lebanon this week. But it is unlikely to impact a sixth appearance at the finals.

“We will try to advance. I always said we have a very good team and maybe we can advance for the first time,” Skocic, a former Croatian international player, told Iranian state news agency IRNA on Saturday.

“I think our draw could have been worse, for example, being in the Spain-Germany group. But our work will still be difficult and one cannot expect a simple group in the World Cup,” he added.

“England is the toughest team in my opinion,” adding “but our team is good enough to be able to compete with others.”