England got their World Cup campaign off to a flying start after they cruised to a comfortable 6-2 victory over Iran at the Khalifa International Stadium on Monday afternoon.
The Three Lions got off to a bright start and thought they should have been awarded a penalty in the third minute when Harry Maguire was manhandled in the area by Rouzbeh Cheshmi but the Brazilian referee was not interested and nor was VAR.
Iran was forced into making a substitute in the 18th minute after goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand collided nastily with Majid Hosseini and was subsequently replaced by Hossein Hosseini.
England drew first blood in the match when Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham handed Southgate’s side the lead in the 35th minute when he launched himself at Luke Shaw’s cross to header the ball beyond Hosseini to find the far corner.
Southgate’s side doubled their lead two minutes before the half time break when Bukayo Saka fired the ball into the roof of the net to make it 2-0.
The Three Lions extended their lead even further on the stroke of half time after Bellingham won the ball in midfield before unleashing Harry Kane down the right. Kane then. looked up before picking out Raheem Sterling, who slotted the ball home with a first-time finish with the outside of his boot as England took a comfortable 3-0 into the break.
Iran opted to make a triple change at the restart as Hossein Kanaani, Ali Gholizadeh and Saeid Ezatolahi came in to replace Rouzbeh Cheshmi, Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Ali Karimi.
England did have to wait long for their fourth goal of the game when Sterling made his way through the midfield to put Saka through on goal before he cut inside to beat to Iran’s defenders to fire beyond Hosseini.
Iran managed to pull a goal back three minutes later after Mehdi Taremi peeled off Maguire for a flash first time shot which bypassed Jordan Pickford via the underside of the bar.
England responded in the 72nd minute and added a fifth goal through substitute Marcus Rashford when he was released down the right by Kane before cutting inside to unleash a shot underneath Hosseini.
Team Melli had a chance to reduce the deficit even further in the 77th minute after Foden lost the ball to set Taremi on his way down the right as he made his way past Dier before unleashing a snap shot at goal, which sailed wide off the target.
The was put to bed in the 90th minute when substitute Jack Grealish scored a simple tap in after Callum Wilson unselfishly played him in on goal to make it 6-1.
Pickford came to his side’s rescue deep into stoppage time when produced a fine save to deny Sardar Azmoun by flicking his shot onto the crossbar and out of play.
Iran were then awarded a penalty in the 11th minute of stoppage time when John Stones tugged the shirt of Taremi. Taremi kept his cool to send Pickford the wrong way to convert the penalty.
England held until the final whistle to secure a comfortable win and walk away with all three points in Doha.
Photo by EPA/Neil Hall
