England’s Three Lions were ruthless in their Group B opener against Iran as Gareth Southgate’s men battered their opponents 6-2 at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha on Monday afternoon.
The clash, which marked the second game of the 22nd edition of the World Cup, saw Iran’s Boavista goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand being forced off the field with a serious injury after just 20 minutes.
The long breaks in the first half saw Brazilian referee Raphael Claus adding a historic 14 minutes of stoppage as Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, and Raheem Sterling netted 3 goals to put England in firm control of the game.
Iran coach Carlos Queiroz shuffled his cards after the interval, making three substitutions however, the result only went in England’s favour as Saka added the fourth for the 1966 champions.
Three minutes after Saka registered his brace, FC Porto forward Mehdi Taremi cut the deficit for Team Melli.
Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish both climbed off the substitute bench to put their names on the scorecards before Taremi netted from the spot to join Enner Valencia and Saka who have all scored 2 goals each so far in the competition.
