England's forward Bukayo Saka (left) celebrates teammates Harry Kane (centre) and England's defender #03 Luke Shaw after he scored England's fourth goal during the Qatar 2022 World Cup Group B football match between England and Iran at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha on November 21, 2022. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP)
A brace from Bukayo Saka powered England to a comfortable 6-2 win over Iran in their opening Group B match of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 at the Khalifa International Stadium. Around 45,334 attended the match.
The win is England’s second highest-scoring game in the opener of a major international tournament after the 6-1 victory over Panama in 2018.
First-half goals from Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling got England on the way with 14 minutes extra time in the first 45 minutes due to an injury to Iran’s goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand. Saka got his second and England’s fourth early in the second half before goals from Marcus Rashford, and Jack Grealish put the game to bed for The Three Lions despite Mehdi Taremi’s consolation strike after the hour mark and a late penalty in the second half.
“It’s a great start, but we’re going to have to be better,” England manager Southgate told reporters.
“To win by that margin - to play as we did for the majority of the game - we’ve got to be really happy. That’s a great marker to put down,” he added.
Southgate said his side shouldn’t be conceding two goals at the stages they did.
“We’ll have to be right on our game against the States. I’m a miserable so-and-so, and I should be more excited, but I’ve got to keep the team on the right track, and we will have to be better.”
After a lengthy stoppage due to Beiranvand’s treatment which saw him substituted for a possible concussion, wonder kid Jude Bellingham got England rolling with a looping header into the top corner in the 35th minute from a Luke Saw cross.
“Unfortunately, he did suffer a serious concussion and will get some more examination done at the hospital,” Iran coach Carlos Queiroz told the media after the match.
Saka soon made it two for Gareth Southgate’s side in the 44th minute. The Arsenal star sent his shot into the roof of the net off the crossbar from a Harry Maguire knockdown.
It was three almost immediately as Raheem Sterling stamped home from close range past substitute goalie Hossein Hosseini for the Three Lions, with Harry Kane providing the assist as England cruised into the break.
The 2018 World Cup semi-finalists made it four just past the hour mark, with Saka grabbing his second. The 21-year-old danced around the defence before sending his effort home thanks to a slight deflection off Hossein Kanaanizadegan.
Iran pulled one back against the run of play through Taremi three minutes later when he sent a crisp finish past Jordan Pickford off the top bar, with Ali Gholizadeh providing the assist.
The goal seemed to spur Iran and got their cheering fans louder but substitute Marcus Rashford extended the lead less than a minute after coming on. Kane played in the Manchester United man, who calmly beat his marker before slotting home.
Jack Grealish got in the act with a tap-in for England’s sixth from a Callum Wilson cutback.
Iran showed some fight towards the end, and Taremi grabbed his second from the spot after VAR had penalized John Stones for a foul on the Iranian striker.
“The game finished in the first half,” Queiroz said. We conceded goals that Iran don’t usually do. But we decided to be brave and to keep fighting after going 3-0 down. The beginning was clear, it was between high-level competition for players who play weekly, and our players don’t have the same experience,” he added.
The Portuguese also blamed parts of his players’ performance on what he called ‘outside distraction’ from the outside. There has been unrest in Iran recently, and Queiroz believes those may have distracted his players.
“Everybody knows the current circumstance of my employers is not the best, and this affects the players also. If it was in my hand, I would not allow so many things to be talked about. Everything is open, and we have six points to fight for, and we will try to win the next game. We have some lessons we need to bring into the game at this level with concentration and no issues around the team.
“Our duty is to correct the situation of the team. Our job is not to correct the past but to what is coming. We can only control our mentality and mindset going into the game, not the outside noise.”
