Doha: In their opening World Cup group encounter against Iran, England came out strong winning 6-2 at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar on Monday. England gained momentum early on thanks to Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling scoring, and with Jude Bellingham scoring his first goal for his country.
Iran suffered a setback when Alireza Beiranvand, Iran's starting goalkeeper, received a head injury after colliding with teammate Hosseini Majid during a disastrous first half and had to be replaced.
Saka's second goal after the break allowed England to let up and gave Iran the chance to respond through Mehdi Taremi. Substitutes Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish then completed the scoring for England.
Following a VAR review, Iran was given a penalty for a small shirt tug, which Taremi converted in the 13th minute of stoppage time.
England (4-3-3): Pickford; Trippier, Stones, Maguire, Shaw; Bellingham, Rice, Mount; Saka, Kane (c), Sterling
Iran (4-3-3): Beiranvand, Moharrami, Hajsafi, Mohammadi, Jahanbakhsh, Pouraliganji, Taremi, Cheshmi, Karimi, Hosseini, Nourollahi.
With inputs from agencies