England's Jude Bellingham reacts with Mason Mount after scoring an opener during the World Cup Group B match against Iran at Khalifa International Stadium in Doha. Photo: AFP / Ken Satomi
England have beaten Iran 6-2 in the opening game of Group B at the Qatar FIFA World Cup.
The Three Lions achieved a commanding win over Iran in Doha this morning, with Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling all getting on the scoresheet in the first-half.
Iran's first-choice goalkeeper was forced to withdraw from the action early on in the match after suffering a suspected concussion in a collision with one of his teammates.
Iran managed to hold off England's attack for much of the first half, but in the 35th minute 19-year-old Jude Bellingham leaped high in the box to send a looping header into the top right corner for the opening goal.
Following Bellingham's goal, the floodgates opened for England's attack.
Less than 10 minutes later, Harry Maguire headed a ball down in the box to 21-year-old Bukayo Saka who volleyed home a powerful shot to make it two-nil.
Shortly after, Raheem Sterling latched onto a tidy cross by Harry Kane to volley it into the net to make it 3-nil just before the whistle was blown for half-time.
In the second-half, England extended their lead through Saka, with the winger cutting inside from the right to drive a low shot past the Iranian goalkeeper in the 62nd minute.
Iran responded just minutes later through their star striker Mehdi Taremi. Substitute Ali Gholizadeh threaded a slick reverse pass into the box catching the English defence off guard for Taremi to hammer high into the roof of the net.
England manager Gareth Southgate made a raft of changes following Iran's goal, bringing on the likes of Phil Foden and Marcus Rashford.
Rashford made an instant impact on the match just seconds after coming on, Harry Kane held the ball up well before laying it into the path of Rashford who swiftly cut inside the chasing defender and knocked a low shot past the keeper to make it 5-1.
Wrapping up England's scoring for the night in the 89th minute, substitute striker Callum Wilson ran behind the defence before laying off a cutback for Jack Grealish to knock into the back of the net.
In the final minute of added time, Iran were awarded a penalty after John Stones was deemed to have held back an Iranian player, stopping him from capitalising on a dangerous cross into the box.
With the final play, Iranian striker Medhi Taremi stepped up to coolly slot the penalty past Jordan Pickford to close the game out with the score at 6-2 to England.
Follow all the action as it happened:
