England hit Queiroz’ Iran for six of the best

England got their Fifa World Cup 2022 Group B campaign off to a flying start on Monday as they hammered Carlos Queiroz’ Iran 6-2 at the Khalifa International Stadium.

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Gareth Southgate’s men totally dominated their opponents as Bukayo Saka grabbed a brace, while Jude Bellingham scored his first ever England goal, and Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish also got on the scoresheet.

Mehdi Taremi did grab two consolation goals for Iran, but it was a miserable day for Team Melli, who look highly likely to be the whipping boys of a group also containing the USA and Wales.

The game was interrupted early on after Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand collided with one of his own players in the 8^th minute, and needed lengthy treatment.

He tried to carry on, but was soon back on the turf, and suspected concussion forced Iran head coach Carlons Queiroz to make a change, bringing on Seyed Hosseini.

England dominated the game throughout and Mason Mount put a Saka cross wide before in the 32^nd minute, Kieran Trippier’s corner was headed against the bar by Harry Maguire.

Three minutes later, Luke Shaw swung in a cross from the left, and Bellingham arrived in the box to glance a superb header into the top corner.

In the 43^rd minute, England doubled their lead as Shaw’s corner was headed down by Maguire, and Saka smashed a brilliant finish in off the bar. Iran’s player protested that Maguire had committed a foul in winning the ball from the corner, but the goal stood.

The referee signalled 14 minutes of first half stoppage time, and England added a third in the first of those, Harry Kane’s cross brilliantly deflected into the corner of the net by Sterling.

Former Bafana head coach Queiroz made three changes at the break, to try and shake up his side, with Ali Karimi, Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Roozbeh Cheshmi all coming off, replaced by Ali Gholizadeh, Saeid Ezatollahi and Mohammad Hosssin Kanani.

It didn’t really change the pattern of play, however, as England continued to pour forward, though they were not as clincial with their final pass as in the first half.

Saka, however, didn’t need a final pass as he danced his way into the area and slid a brilliant finish past Hosseini to make it 4-0.

Iran pulled one back almost immediately as Taremi beat John Stones to the ball inside the area and rattled a superb finish in off the underside of the bar.

Maguire then had to go off injured and Eric Dier came on as part of a quadruple Southgate substitiution, which also saw Phil Foden, Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden come on.

Rashford added a fifth within seconds, 26 of them, to be precise, gathering Kane’s pass and drilling home the finish.

And Grealish stroked home the sixth in the final minute of normal time. Callum Wilson racing onto Bellingham’s pass, and cutting the ball back for the Manchester City man, who made no mistake.

Iran did rally far too late, with substitute Sardar Azmoun hitting the bar, before a penalty was given to Iran in the 12th minute of stoppage time for a shirt pull by Stones.

Taremi knocked the spot kick into the net, but it was England whose World Cup campaign got off to the perfect start.