England began their FIFA World Cup campaign with a resounding 6-2 demolition of Iran at the Khalifa International Stadium on Monday.
Gareth Southgate’s men were quick off the blocks and goals from Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling saw England take a three-goal advantage into the interval.
Upon resumption of the second half, the impressive Saka added a fourth for the Three Lions and his second of the day, while substitutes Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish both fired home as the 1966 champions bagged all three points.
🔴 Live Blog:
FULL-TIME AT THE KHALIFA INTERNATIONAL STADIUM: England 6-2 Iran
GOOOAAAALLLL!!! England 6-2 Iran (M. Taremi)
90+10′ MIN: Referee Raphael Claus makes the VAR signal and is going to check whether it’s a penalty for Iran. The Iran players are happy as the referee awards a PENALTY after the VAR review!
PENALTY!!! To Iran
90′ MIN: Callum Wilson feeds Jack Grealish inside the box, who is unmarked and buries the ball in the bottom right corner.
GOOOAAALLL!!! England 6-1 Iran (J. Grealish)
71′ MIN: Marcus Rashford makes a great solo run and pulls the trigger from inside the box, beating Hossein Hosseini with a strike into the bottom left corner.
GOOOAAALLL!!! England 5-1 Iran (M. Rashford)
65′ MIN: Mehdi Taremi picks up the ball after finding some space inside the box, then fires it in off the crossbar.
GOOOAAALLL!!! England 4-1 Iran (M. Taremi)
62′ MIN: Bukayo Saka brilliantly slaloms his way forward past a few defenders and unleashes a shot from the edge of the box, which is deflected and goes into the back of the net.
GOOOAAALLL!!! England 4-0 Iran (B. Saka)
SECOND HALF UNDERWAY AT THE KHALIFA INTERNATIONAL STADIUM: England 3-0 Iran
HALF-TIME AT THE KHALIFA INTERNATIONAL STADIUM: England 3-0 Iran
45+1′ MIN: Harry Kane plays it into the box, and Raheem Sterling gets on the end of the cross to put it inside the right post.
GOOOAAALLL!!! England 3-0 Iran (R. Sterling)
43′ MIN: What a hit! Bukayo Saka makes a run to receive the ball and produces a powerful shot from mid-range which deflects in off the inside of the right post, beating the surprised goalkeeper.
35′ MIN: Jude Bellingham runs onto a clever lofted pass from Luke Shaw and easily beats the keeper with a header into the top right corner from close range.
GOOOAAALLL!!! England 2-0 Iran (B. Saka)
GOOOAAALLL!!! England 1-0 Iran (J. Bellingham)
KICK-OFF AT THE KHALIFA INTERNATIONAL STADIUM: England 0-0 Iran
Iran’s starting line-up set to take on the Three Lions of England.
The Three Lions have in their XI skipper Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and Bukayo Saka in attack. Mason Mount and Jude Bellingham are in midfield while Harry Maguire and Kieran Trippier will be in defence.
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