England manager Gareth Southgate insisted his team should be wary of their “tricky” Qatar World Cup draw that could see them taking on UK rivals Scotland or Wales. The Three Lions were drawn alongside the USA, Iran and the eventual play-off winners out of Wales, Scotland or war-torn Ukraine. They take on Iran on the opening day of the finals on November 21, in what will be a first senior international meeting between the countries. The game take's place eight days after the Premier League begins a six-week break. They will then aim to beat the United States — scheduled for November 25 — in a World Cup finals match at the third attempt, after a shock defeat in 1950 and a draw at the 2010 finals in South Africa. Should they get out of that pool, they will face one of hosts Qatar, the Netherlands, Senegal or Ecuador in the last 16. They could then go on to meet world champions France in the quarter-finals. “We've got to get out of the group,” said Southgate. “Out first objective is to get out of the group and then we build from there. “The advantage of being in pot one based on our seeding is that most of the draws we’ve had … you avoid the biggest teams. “There’s obviously then some tricky ties and this is one of those groups where you’re looking and thinking ‘some of these are potentially trickier than just the rankings’. That’s always a danger. “It’s intriguing isn’t it, because we’ve never played Iran. And then the States … I’ve met [US coach] Gregg [Berhalter] a lot recently, so we’ve had some good chats and he’s got them vastly improved. “The third game is going to be a highly emotional game whoever it is. We all know where our thoughts are with Ukraine and we have to see whether they are even able to play or not. “And of course if it’s one of the British teams, we’ve been through that in tournaments recently. So they become unique games, really. Form is totally out of the window.” England have never faced another British nation in a World Cup finals match but do have recent tournament experience against Scotland and Wales. They were <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/football/euro-2020-england-frustrated-by-gutsy-scotland-in-wembley-stalemate-1.1244149" target="_blank">held to a goalless draw by Steve Clarke’s side</a> in last summer’s Euros at Wembley and beat Wales 2-1 at Euro 2016.
