Iran will play the Three Lions on Monday and are scheduled to face Wales and the U.S. on Nov. 25 and 29, respectively.

Team Melli had an impressive qualifying campaign of its own, winning eight of 10 games in the third round of Asian qualifying and conceding just four goals.

Iran never qualified for the knockout stages in five previous attempts, stretching back to their debut in Argentina in 1978.

It sits 20th in the latest FIFA rankings, putting the team above the likes of Serbia, Morocco and Poland.

Just two months before the World Cup starts, Iran football federation surprisingly removed Dragan Skocic to appoint Carlos Queiroz as Team Melli coach in Qatar.

This will be Queiroz’s fourth consecutive World Cup as a head coach – the longest ongoing run – and third in a row in charge of Iran after taking over for a second spell.

Iran are one of 20 teams to have featured at each of the last two World Cups in 2014 and 2018 – of those teams, they have had the fewest shots (47), the fewest shots on target (10) and scored the fewest goals (three) in the group stages across those two tournaments combined.

England also are the only European team to have reached the semi-finals in each of the last two major tournaments, and will be hoping to start on course for another strong showing at the Khalifa International Stadium.