England haunted by form fears going into World Cup opener against Iran

Three Lions set to keep faith with old favourites despite concerns over Maguire and Sterling ahead of Qatar 2022

Left to right: England captain Harry Kane with John Stones, Harry Maguire, Callum Wilson, Bukayo Sako and Eric Dier during training at the Al Wakrah Sports Club in Qatar, on Thursday November 17, 2022. Getty

England defender Conor Coady during training in Qatar. PA

Left to right: England's John Stones, Harry Kane, Callum Wilson and Marcus Rashford. PA

England's Mason Mount. PA

England attacker Phil Foden during training.

England defender Trent Alexander-Arnold, centre, during training. PA

England captain Harry Kane.

England midfielder Conor Gallagher.

England midfielder Declan Rice, centre. PA

England's Phil Foden controls the ball next to Kyle Walker. Reuters

Left to right: England's Jude Bellingham, Callum Wilson and Kalvin Phillips. Reuters

England's Callum Wilson and Kalvin Phillips. Reuters

England's Conor Gallagher, centre.

England manager Gareth Southgate with Jack Grealish. Reuters

England manager Gareth Southgate and his assistant Steve Holland with the players at training. Reuters

England's Declan Rice and Eric Dier. PA

England's Declan Rice during a training session at the Al Wakrah Sports Club Stadium in Al Wakrah, Qatar. Picture date: Thursday November 17, 2022.

England's Raheem Sterling speaks to coach Chris Powell. PA

England's Jack Grealish.

England's Conor Gallagher.

England manager Gareth Southgate.

England defender Kyle Walker.

England's Harry Maguire and Harry Kane. Reuters

General view of England's training session. Reuters

England's Marcus Rashford runs with the ball towards Callum Wilson.

England's Phil Foden.

In his last three matches in the Uefa Champions League, Mehdi Taremi has struck five goals. He also set up both Porto’s goals in the victory over Bayer Leverkusen immediately before that hot streak.

Without Taremi’s contributions, above all his opener in the tense 2-1 victory in the final group game against Atletico Madrid, his club would not have reached the knockout round of what is regarded as club football’s most elevated competition.

Safe to report, then, that Iran’s Taremi reported for duty for the World Cup in very fine form.

Harry Maguire, meanwhile, played his last Champions League game in March, a tense defeat to Atletico that had swung away from Manchester United when Joao Felix sneaked ahead of the defender to establish an early lead in the tie.

This season, United are not in the Champions League at all. As for the Premier League, Maguire has slipped down the pecking order, making United’s starting XI for just four league games, and more often on the bench when he has been available.

Yet there is every probability that Maguire will be among the central defenders tasked with marshalling the lively Taremi when England and Iran meet at the Khalifa International Stadium on Sunday, the nation ranked fifth in the world by Fifa against the one ranked 20th.

Form argues against Maguire’s selection, given the range of alternatives available to manager Gareth Southgate, but there is a loyalty felt by the England manager for the 29-year-old.

Maguire is valued for his leadership, his impact at set pieces in both penalty areas, among other qualities. He has a special Three Lions status, as much a symbol of Southgate’s time in charge as the manager’s waistcoats used to be.

HOW ENGLAND QUALIFIED FOR WORLD CUP 2022: (Group I) March 25, 2021. England 5 (Ward Prowse 14', Calvert-Lewin 21', 53', Sterling 31', Watkins 83'): England began their qualification campaign by brushing aside San Marino at Wembley with substitute Ollie Watkins scoring on his debut. Manager Gareth Southgate said: "Of course, it's an opponent we should beat, but I thought they went about the job really well." Reuters

March 28, 2021. Albania 0 England 2 (Kane 38', Mount 63'): Two out of two for Southgate's men who stretched their unbeaten run in World Cup qualifiers to 23 games after Harry Kane scored one and supplied the other. Southgate said: "We had opportunities to make it three and should have killed the game off. I didn’t like the way we managed the game in the last 15 minutes, charging forwards when we didn’t need to." Reuters

March 31, 2021. England 2 (Kane pen 19', Maguire 85') Poland 1 (Moder 58'): England overcame a dreadful error from defender John Stones that led to Poland - who were without Robert Lewandowski up front - scoring to make it three wins out of three. Southgate said: "We need to play top opponents and you could see tonight we still have a lot of improvements to make. That’s not anything I didn’t know." Reuters

September 2, 2021. Hungary 0 England 4 (Sterling 55', Kane 63', Maguire 69', Rice 87'): Impressive England destroyed Hungary with four second-half goals in Budapest in a match where England players had objects thrown at them while some players suffered racist abuse from the home crowd. Southgate said: "We showed great maturity and kept the ball well. The attacking play was really exciting in the second half and we could have had more." Reuters

September 5, 2021. England 4 (Lingard 18', 78', Kane pen 72'), Saka 85') Andorra 0: Three late goals made it five wins out of five for England, who made 11 changes from the side that won 4-0 in Hungary. Southgate said: "It was difficult for the players picked who didn't have as much games together. You have to keep moving the ball, keep being patient. It wasn't an easy task." AFP

September 8, 2021. Poland 1 (Szymanski 90+2') England 1 (Kane 72'). An injury-time leveller ended England's 100 per cent record but still found themselves four points clear at the top of Group I with four games left. Southgate said: "It was no surprise that this was the hardest game in the group. Early in the game, we were a little slow to move the ball ... in the second half we controlled the game." AFP

October 9, 2021. Andorra 0 England 5 (Chilwell 17', Saka 40', Abraham 59', Ward-Prowse 79', Grealish 86'): A stroll for England against a country ranked 156th in the world. Manchester City forward Phil Foden was the star of the show as Jack Grealish scored his first England goal. Grealish said: "In the back of my mind there has been that feeling that I've just wanted to score, just to get off the mark. Obviously I've done that tonight, I'm delighted." Reuters

October 12, 2021. England 1 (Stones 37') Hungary 1 (Sallai pen 24'): A stumble in England's quest for Qatar as Southgate's side produced a disjointed display at Wembley with an out-of-form Harry Kane taken off despite the Three Lions still searching for a winner. Southgate said: "I don't think we played at the level we have done and Hungary defended very well. We didn't do enough to win the game." EPA

November 12, 2021. England 5 (Maguire 9', Kane 18', 33', 45'+1), Henderson (28') Albania 0: Harry Kane was back in the scoring groove, hitting a hat-trick that left England needing only a point from their final qualifier in San Marino to qualify. Southgate said: "The first-half performance in the main was outstanding. Harry gave a fantastic centre-forward's performance ... I thought his all-round game was excellent." Getty

November 15, 2021. San Marino 0 England 10 (Maguire 6', Fabbri og 15'), Kane pen 27', 31', pen 39', 42'), Smith Rowe 58', Mings 69', Abraham 78', Saka 79'): England reached double figures for the first time since 1964 and secured their spot in Qatar. Southgate said: "We gave a performance that was enjoyable for the supporters that travelled, was clinical in the way we went about it, and then showed some exciting young players coming through." Reuters

Southgate’s tenure is now into its seventh year, a period of enough success to earn the coach the same sort of trust from a demanding English public as he places in a select number of senior players even when their form dips.

At the last World Cup, Maguire, who had one competitive cap when the tournament began, galvanised England’s progress to the semi-final. He began last year’s European Championship suffering an ankle injury but, once recovered, was returned to the XI for England's advance to the final, a best-ever showing in that competition.

That record makes Southgate, who started in the role as a caretaker, the highest-achieving England manager since the country won their only World Cup, at home in 1966.

So much for the positives. They are glittering highlights in danger of fading further and further back in the rear-view mirror. Southgate is also the England manager who oversaw relegation in the Uefa Nations League, the consequence of an alarming slump.

Harry Maguire, right, is an almost certain starter for England despite having lost his place in Manchester United's team. AFP

England have not won a competitive match for a year; their six Nations League games yielded three points from a possible 18. They have kept just two clean sheets in their last eight matches. They lost 4-0 at home to Hungary in June, a humiliation Maguire at least was largely spared because it was the only Nations League fixture he did not start.

It all leaves England with a dark cloud of poor team form to carry into a hot, sun-beaten first challenge in Doha. Matters of individual form create their own heat around Southgate, under more sustained criticism for his perceived tactical caution as he has ever been.

He cited “a poor run of form at the wrong time” for leaving Tammy Abraham, the Roma striker, out of his squad; yet his belief in the know-how, the pedigree and experience of the likes of Maguire and Raheem Sterling – one Chelsea goal since mid-September – overrides short-term concerns, and counts for more than a tally of minutes on the pitch or freshly impressive finishing statistics.

And, like most coaches embarking on the unique tournament conditions of Qatar 2022, where the weather will not always recommend woollen waistcoats and preparation time has been squeezed, Southgate cannot rely on the usual calculus of how much, or how little, recent form matters.

England captain Harry Kane, right, has scored 51 goals in 75 games for the Three Lions. AP

The majority of his players come from the Premier League, generally regarded as the most physically demanding of elite domestic leagues, which only paused to make space for the World Cup eight days ago. For that, says Southgate, “we’ve got to adapt better than everybody else”.

Some of his peers may disagree. France and Senegal are adapting to fresh bad news, having waved goodbye, because of injury, to Karim Benzema, holder of the Ballon d’Or, and Sadio Mane, African Footballer of the Year, marquee strikers.

Southgate has his world-class goalscorer, Harry Kane, fit and aiming to match his Golden Boot from the last World Cup, albeit that Kane’s Tottenham Hotspur manager, Antonio Conte observes Kane has been “exhausted” lately.

Fatigued or not, Kane will take on what is likely to be a deep-set, well-drilled Iran defence with 15 goals from his last 19 Spurs games. That’s enviable form from the England player Iran must fear most.