The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Parker: England must respect Iran
England cannot afford to underestimate Iran when they bid to get their World Cup campaign up and running in Qatar, according to former defender Paul Parker.
Gareth Southgate’s men open the Group B schedule at the Khalifa International Stadium in Al Rayyan on Monday and then play the United States before meeting Wales.
The build-up to a first winter World Cup has lacked the usual frenzy which precedes a summer showpiece tournament and England arrive in Qatar without a win in six matches following relegation from the top tier of the Nations League.
Nevertheless, there will be an expectation England should still have enough to see off the challenge of Iran, who are 20th in the Fifa rankings.
Parker was part of the England squad which gained momentum at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, going on to reach the semifinals where they lost on penalties to West Germany.
The 58-year-old, who had spells at Fulham, QPR and Manchester United, knows all too well the pitfalls of not giving international opposition the deserved level of respect.
“When you look at the group England are in, everyone is going, ‘Well, you should win that’, but it should make it more scarier really, because there is loads and loads of pressure on,” Parker said.
“People are saying, ‘England should be winning every game’, and it is just like when we played Cameroon (in the 1990 quarter-final). It turned out tougher than what it should have been – we just didn’t give them enough respect.
“You can look at it and say that we should beat Iran, but we also know America will be tough, on a couple of occasions they have taken something from us, then Wales is a derby game really where anything can happen.
“There are so many hurdles to get over and, when you look there are a lot of difficulties there, so it will be mind over matter in those games. England will need players who are good characters.”