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West Ham midfielder Declan Rice has said England’s 6-2 win against Iran in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar proved most of their critics wrong.
Southgate was under scrutiny after a run of six games without a win but England sent a message to the rest of the tournament with an impressive display.
Young stars Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka starred and Rice says the squad wanted to send a message to their critics.
“It was a positive start,” said the West Ham midfielder. “There were a lot of doubts about us before the tournament.
“There has been a lot of talk about us not winning in our last six matches. By our standards, with the players we have got, we know that it hasn’t been good enough.
“But this was a World Cup stage and you could see there was a fire in our bellies. We wanted to prove a lot of people wrong.
“People will say ‘it’s only Iran’ but they have had some good results at past World Cups. In September, they beat Uruguay and drew with Senegal.”