England have announced themselves at the Mundial with a deserved 6-2 win against Iran in their 2022 World Cup opener at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha.
Gareth Southgate’s youthful side took the lead through a header from Jude Bellingham before Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling scored later in the first half in a dominant display.
In the second half, Saka completed his brace while Manchester boys Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish made instant impacts after coming off the bench as they added the last two nails in Iran’s coffin.
Elsewhere, the last minute penalty gave Taremi personal two-goal consolation for Iran.
There was a lot of pressure on Southgate coming into the World Cup, after poor form, and an extra-cautious system failed to get the right results, despite having a very talented set of attacking players. Today, the England manager gave his players more freedom and by sacrificing a defender to play both Mount and Bellingham in attacking positions, it allowed for creating overloads and breaking down a usually capable Iranian defensive unit.
Harry Kane made two assists today. He set up Bukayo Saka in the first half and then linked up with Marcus Rashford a few minutes before going off.
The England captain now has as many assists in this game as Cristiano Ronaldo does in 17 World Cup appearances.
With this scoreline, the Three Lions have taken a commanding lead in Group B and their next context will be against USA on Friday while Iran face Wales.
