England kickoff their FIFA World Cup 2022 campaign with a resounding 6-2 win over Iran at the Khalifa international Stadium in Doha.
Goals from Jude Bellingham, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford, Jack Grealish and a Bukayo Saka’s brace sealed an unsurprising win for Gareth Southgate’s side, who are heavy favourites heading into the contest.
The Villain in their last major international tournament, Bukayo Saka showed the world thay time has been good on him with a player of the match performance to help England outclass their opponent.
With just over nine minutes into the match, their Asian opponent were forced into an early change as Goalkeeper, Alireza Beiranvand had to be taken off after a collision with his teammate left him bloody.
Taking his place on the pitch, Hossein Hosseini conceded the first goal as Iran succumbed to the pressure. Luke Shaw received a pass and sends his cross into the heart of the box.
Arriving from the midfield, Jude Bellingham applied a dinking header to make it 1-0 to the England’s three Lions five minutes after the half hour mark.
Bukayo Saka made it 2-0 one minute before the end of normal time of the first half. From a corner, Harry Maguire heads down for the Arsenal winger, who applied a thumping finish, leaving Hosseini with no chance.
Raheem Sterling gets his goal in the added time of the first half. Harry Kane moved the ball forward and took his time before sending a well weighted cross into the ball, where Sterling made a well time run to connect for 3-0 England.
England continued their dominance after the break and they made it count just two minutes after the hour mark. Bukayo Saka again, received the pass from Raheem Sterling and made his way to the box, evading a couple of defenders before sending a low shot past everyone and into the back of the net to get his second of the day.
Mehdi Taremi responds for Iran just three minutes afterwards, hitting a first time shot from a tight angle to grab a consolation for his country and denying Jordan Pickford a clean sheet, despite the Everton goalkeeper having little to nothing to do up to that moment.
Marcus Rashford came off the bench and immediately restored England’s four goal cushion with a composed finish, with Harry Kane getting his second assist of the day in the process.
Jack Grealish, teed up by fellow substitute, Callum Wilson made it 6-1 on the stroke of 90th minute as England continued to dominate their opponent even deep into the ten added minutes.
However, it was Iran who scored in injury time as Mehdi Taremi completed his brace from the spot following a foul he won due to a pulled shirt by John Stones.
England bagged the three points and move to the top of the standing in group B, where it will take something extraordinary to take them off by either of Wales or the USA, who faceoff against each other in the final world cup fixture of today.
Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi
