There are obvious reasons for English fans to feel less enthusiastic about Qatar 2022 than about previous World Cups. Will soccer fever resume as the tournament proceeds?
. The question of whether Iran should even be at the World Cup has been raised. But, then, who does a national team represent? Its people or its government? The Iranian captain, Ehsan Hajsafi, told a press conference yesterday that his team supported the demonstrators at home. And, just before kickoff, he and his fellow-players bolstered this stance. As the national anthem played, Iranian people in the crowd booed, and the players did not sing a word.
Given these circumstances, and the strange atmosphere that surrounds this whole tournament, it felt jarring when the first ball was kicked. Iran is ranked twentieth in the world, and is no pushover. The team’s Portuguese manager, Carlos Queiroz, had set up his squad defensively. He played five men across the back, with a lone striker up front: the distinctly dangerous Mehdi Taremi, who scores often for his club, Porto. But England utterly dominated its opponent.
After thirty-five goalless minutes, Bellingham began the scoring, with a looping header over the Iranian goalie. Smartly taken goals for Saka and Raheem Sterling followed. By halftime, the game was as good as over. In the second half, England scored three more goals: through Saka, Marcus Rashford, and Jack Grealish.
After the final whistle, the television commentator on the BBC suggested that “World Cup fever” might now, finally, infect England. He is probably right. The English love nothing more than a run of success at a big tournament, and most of the team’s fans are not too interested in geopolitics. The weather in England right now is appalling, and the country is in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis. Soccer is a powerful drug.
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