Amidst a storm of protests and controversy back home, and following a brave denouncement of the regime by their team captain, Iran get the footballing side of their World Cup underway against England at the Khalifa International Stadium on Monday.

Carlos Queiroz's side are major underdogs heading into the match, having won just two of their 15 previous World Cup outings and never making it past the group stage.

However, they are ranked inside the top 20 teams in world football and may just fancy their chances of springing an upset in their curtain-raiser and beyond.

Here, Sports Mole looks at some reasons why Iran should be confident of getting a result against England.

England's slow starts

Any England fan will tell you that their opening matches at World Cups have traditionally not been thrill-a-minute games, with the Three Lions often taking time to get going in major tournaments, if they ever do.

Of their last eight World Cup openers, England have only recorded three wins, while they have not won a curtain-raiser by more than one goal since 1998 against Tunisia.

Incidentally, they faced the same opponent first up four years ago in Russia, when they needed a last-gasp Harry Kane winner to get off to a victorious start.

England's only other opening-game win since 1982 saw a Carlos Gamarra own goal earn them a slender 1-0 triumph over Paraguay in 2006.

Draws with Sweden (2002) and USA (2010) have been uninspiring affairs, while in their ill-fated 2014 campaign they were memorably beaten by Italy - the third time they have lost their opener, after 1962 and 1986.

Recent form

Iran come into the World Cup with just two defeats from their last 21 outings in a run that stretches back more than three years.

The tournament in Qatar will of course throw up sterner challenges than Iran have faced for the majority of that run, but since September Queiroz's side have picked up an impressive win over Uruguay and a draw with Africa Cup of Nations holders Senegal.

Both of those teams have been tipped as dark horses at this tournament - at least before Sadio Mane's injury in Senegal's case - so Iran should be full of confidence that they can hold their own against each of their Group B opponents.

Add to that a record of 14 clean sheets in their last 20 games and Team Melli are an outfit it will be difficult to break down and beat, even for an attack possessing the quality of England.

England's own form will also be a source of optimism for Iran, with Gareth Southgate's side heading into Monday's match on a six-game winless streak.

Attacking firepower

Iran are not a team you would usually associate with goals, particularly at the World Cup, where they have only scored more than once in a game on one occasion in the past - their famous win over USA in 1998.

Indeed, of teams to have played more than 10 World Cup matches, Iran have the worst goals-per-game ratio, while of the teams to have featured in both of the last two tournaments, they also registered the fewest goals, shots and shots on target.

The fact that Queiroz has only named three strikers in his squad hints at an ongoing dearth of attacking talent at his disposal, although the three forwards he has named boast 98 international goals between them.

Sardar Azmoun leads the way with 41 from just 65 caps, while Karim Ansarifard has 29 and Mehdi Taremi has 28, placing them all inside Iran's seven highest goalscorers of all time.

Porto's Taremi in particular is one to keep an eye on - he only featured six times in World Cup qualifying, yet he was still involved in more goals than any other Iran player.