The third round of the group stage begins in the World Cup

Meanwhile, for the Ecuadorians, a knee injury could delay the return of captain Enner Valencia to the national team.

This will be the first meeting between the Netherlands and Qatar. Dutchman Noah Lang picked up an ankle injury in training that puts him at risk of playing against Qatar, while defender Basam Al-Rawi may be out for Qatar.

On the other hand, in subgroup B, in the first round of matches, the English defeated Iran 6-2, and Wales and the USA drew 1-1. In the second round, USA and England ended in a 1-1 draw, while Iran beat Wales 2-0.

England and Wales have played several duels not only in the World Cup, but also in the European Championship. In the last meeting between the two national teams, in 2020, in a test match, England’s football players won convincingly with 3:0.

Wales will be without Wayne Hennessey, who earned a red card in the previous match against Iran, but defender Ben White, who missed training on Monday due to illness, may not be in England’s lineup.

Iran and the USA have met only once in the 1998 World Cup, when the Iranians won (2:1).

Iran is expected to be without goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand, who collided with his team’s defender in the first match and injured his head and suffered a broken nose, as well as Alireza Jahanbakhsh, who received yellow cards in the previous two matches.

32 teams are divided into eight groups of four national teams each. The two best teams from each group will enter the round of 16 and continue the fight for football’s most prestigious trophy.

Qatar is the first Arab country to host the FIFA World Cup. So far, one championship has been held in Asia, and it was jointly hosted by South Korea and Japan in 2002.

This is also the first tournament to be held in late autumn, rather than the usual summer months due to the extreme heat in Qatar.

This is the last tournament in which 32 teams participate, as from the next World Cup in 2026, 48 national teams will start the competition.

In the final tournament of the 2018 World Cup, which was held in Russia, France became the champion, beating Croatia 4:2 in the decisive match.