England 6-2 IR Iran – England open World Cup account with stunning six past Iran

England got their World Cup campaign off to a flyer thanks to a convincing display in Doha. The Khalifa International Stadium was treated to an eight goal thriller to get Group B underway.

The first half struggled to get going due to an injury to Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand. He clashed with his teammate Majid Hosseini and was in clear discomfort. He should have immediately left the field, following the concussion protocols, but was forced back onto the pitch by his coach. In quite frightening scenes, he was unable to hold himself up and was back down just a few minutes later. He was eventually replaced by Hossein Hosseini, who made his competitive debut for his nation.

From this, England took cruise control and went ahead thanks to 19-year-old sensation Jude Bellingham. The Dortmund wonderkid pulled the strings from midfield all game but put The Three Lions ahead when Luke Shaw’s cross found Jude, who looped his header over Hosseini. What a time to get your first England goal.

Luke Shaw has been involved in 11 goals in his past 19 appearances for England with three goals plus eight assists and had another impact in England’s second goal, when his corner found Harry Maguire who headed down to Bukayo Saka. Saka had time and space in the box and smashed it home on the volley the double the advantage.

Within just two minutes, it was three goals to the good after skipper Harry Kane put in a beautiful cross to Raheem Sterling who majestically scored with the outside of his boot. This came just after the fourth official had announced an additional 14, yes 14 minutes of added on time.

HT: 3-0

In the second half, England continued to have full control and on the hour mark it was four thanks to a second goal from Saka. He had so much time to cut inside and pick his spot, to which he did and slotted the ball into the bottom left-hand corner.

Iran pulled one back through FC Porto striker Mehdi Taremi after he was slipped in and got ahead of Maguire to smash the ball past Jordan Pickford. It was a brilliant finish, but it was already a long way back for his side.

Gareth Southgate had planned to make substitutions before Saka’s goal but then gave it a few more minutes to decide. He was then further denied the chance due to Iran’s goal and an injury to Maguire. So, after ten minutes, he finally was able to make four changes, one of which saw the inclusion of Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford. He was on the pitch for just 49 seconds and made it five after driving into the box, stepping inside with such composure and finished in classy style. As a manager, you know you're getting it spot on when a man you've just brought on scores a minute later.

Harry Kane became the first England player to assist two goals in a World Cup game since David Beckham did in 2006 against Trinidad & Tobago. He was substituted minutes later for Callum Wilson.

Wilson was involved in the sixth after unselfish play saw him square the ball to Jack Grealish who had the ease of an empty net to score. The mentality for Wilson to square his chance at 5-1 up was superb. All five players on the scoresheet scored their first World Cup goals in their career.

There was some dodgy decisions throughout the game, no less the fact that England should have had a penalty at 0-0 when Maguire was rugby tackled to the floor, but Iran were given one at the end of injury time, which by the way was another ten minutes, taking the total to 24 overall.

John Stones had the slightest tug on Taremi and it was deemed a penalty by Brazilian referee Raphael Claus after heading over to the VAR monitor. Taremi stepped up and coolly sent Pickford the wrong way with the last kick of the game to finish the contest at 6-2.

FT: 6-2

Despite the controversy right at the very end, that should not overshadow England’s incredible performance. This was a sensational result which can be built on further down the line in this tournament.

All eyes will now be on USA vs Wales before the full focus turns to the United States game on Friday. Until then, let’s enjoy tonight England fans…

England Starting XI: Pickford, Shaw, Maguire (70), Stones, Trippier, Rice, Bellingham, Sterling (70), Mount (70), Saka (70), Kane (75)

Subs: Walker, Grealish (70), Henderson, Rashford (70), Pope, Phillips, Dier (70), Coady, Alexander-Arnold, Foden (70), White, Ramsdale, Wilson (75), Maddison, Gallagher

IR Iran Starting XI: Beiranvand (20), Mohammadi (63), Hosseini, Cheshmi (46), Moharrami, Hajisafi, Pouraliganji, Noorollahi (77), Karimi (46), Jahanbakhsh (46), Taremi

Subs: Khalilzadeh, Ezatolahi (46), Ansarifard, Amiri, Niazmand, Kanani (46), Ghoddos, Torabi (63), Gholizadeh (46), Azmoun (77), Abedzadeh, Rezaeian, Hosseini (20), Jalali

Attendance: 45,334

Man of the Match: Bukayo Saka