England’s FIFA World Cup campaign opened this evening with a convincing 6-2 victory in Doha.
Gareth Southgate’s side strolled to victory, with Iran’s hopeless plight made worse by the early loss of goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand after a clash of heads with team-mate Majid Hosseini.
Jude Bellingham got England off the mark with a soaring header from Luke Shaw’s cross 10 minutes before the break and the game was wrapped up before half-time thanks to Bukayo Saka’s fine strike and Raheem Sterling’s classy volley with outside of his foot from Harry Kane’s cross.
Iran’s supporters were given a moment of real delight when Mehdi Taremi scored a fine goal after 65 minutes but it only produced a ruthless response from England as Saka scored his second and substitute Marcus Rashford scored with his first involvement.
Iran pulled another back in injury time when Taremi slotted in a penalty after John Stones’ foul to put the score line 6 – 2 at regulation time.
