The World Cup is just around the corner and all eyes are on England as they look to end 56 years of hurt and finally win football’s biggest competition for a second time.
The Three Lions will want to go one better than their semi-final finish at the 2018 World Cup by reaching the final, but before they start thinking about playing in the final, they need to focus on their first match against Iran.
The draw has been quite kind to England as they prepare to face a country that has only ever won two World Cup games.
When is England’s first game?
England face Iran in their first match on Monday, November 21 in a game that will start at 1PM UK time.
The match will be played at 4PM Qatari time, so it may finish just after sunset.
As for Iran, the game will start at 4:30PM for the locals supporting Carlos Queiroz’s side.
This isn’t the most sociable time for a football match to start, especially not on a Monday as most people in the UK will be at work or at school at the time of kick-off.
Why is the World Cup in winter?
We’re used to watching World Cup action in the summer sunshine, but this year it might be more worthwhile to stay inside with a hot water bottle and a cup of tea as we prepare for the first ever winter World Cup.
This change has been made to accommodate for the climate in Qatar. Playing this tournament in the middle east in the summer would have been completely unviable due to the severe heat, so it’s been moved to the winter to ease the physical strain put on the players.
The average high temperatures around this time are expected to be around 29 degrees Celsius, which should make for favourable playing conditions.
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