England have started their world cup journey in style. Today, they faced Iran to begin their World Cup mission in Qatar. However, the English literally ran riot at Khalifa International Stadium, where England netted a half-dozen goals against Iran.
Match Report
Football experts considered England one of the favorites in the Qatar World Cup 2022. Therefore, England’s manager Gareth Southgate played his best possible XI in their opening game.
The manager set up the team formation with 4-2-3-1, where Harry Kane played as the central forward, and Sterling, Mason Mount, and Jude Bellingham played just behind the skipper. Manchester United’s defensive duo, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw, played in England’s defense with John Stones and Kieran Trippier. However, Iran’s boss played his team in a 5-4-1 formation, a bit defensive.
However, Iran were more focused on defending. They kept the scoreline null until 34 minutes. But Jude Bellingham opened the scoresheet in the 35th minute as he found the net with a powerful header.
After that, England became more aggressive against Iran. The front three of England were deadliest after getting the first goal. In the 43rd minute, Bukayo Saka doubled the lead for England. Moreover, England got another goal within two minutes. This time, Raheem Sterling scored the goal with Harry Kane’s assist.
England kept the same pressure on the opponents in the second half as well. But Iran tried to make resistance after coming back from the break. Unfortunately, they couldn’t stop the English attackers. In the 62nd minute, Bukayo Saka scored his 2nd and England’s 4th goal with the help of Raheem Sterling.
However, conceding four goals, Iran returned one in the 65th minute. Mehdi Taremi found the net with a bullet shot. After that, England’s manager made several substitutions. He replaced Bukayo Saka with Marcus Rashford. And guess what?
Marcus Rashford, who came off the bench in the 71st minute, scored his first-ever world cup goal within one minute. Moreover, Jack Grealish, another player to came off the bench, scored England’s 6th goal in the 89th minute.
However, Iran returned another one in injury time. In the 90+10th minute, Iran got a penalty kick, and Mehdi Taremi made no mistakes from the spot kick. Unfortunately, it helped Iran nothing to get something from the match.
Southgate’s Reaction
England’s manager Gareth Southgate shared his thought with BBC after the match. He said, “I’m a bit fed up with the end of it. To win by that margin and play the way as we did for the majority of the game we have to be really happy. We looked ready. We wanted to be that type of team.”
The England boss added, “They dealt with game really well, there were lots of stoppages, but our pressing and movement was really good. I’ve got to be really happy, but we should not be conceding two goals at that stage in the game.”