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England have opened their World Cup account with a very comfortable three points, defeating Iran 6-2 at Khalifa International Stadium on Tuesday morning (AEDT).
Bukayo Saka had a brace and Jude Bellingham hit his first England goal, with strikes from Raheem Sterling, Jack Grealish and Marcus Rashford rounding out the scoring.
Bellingham got the nod ahead of the likes of Jordan Henderson and Kalvin Phillips in the engine room and it looked like a masterstroke after the Borussia Dortmund man netted the opener.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, who’s had an uncharacteristically mixed start to the Premier League season, had to settle for a bench spot as Gareth Southgate preferred the in-form Kieran Trippier at right-back.
The Three Lions threatened early and controlled possession from the outset. The midfield trio of Declan Rice, Bellingham and Mason Mount dictated the tempo and looked to get their forwards involved.
There was a lengthy delay after Iranian goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand collided with a teammate. There were concerns for the shot-stopper and it initially appeared he would be taken off, but played resumed with him between the sticks. However, just a minute later Beiranvand signalled to the bench that he needed to leave the field.
Iran tried to stifle Southgate’s side’s momentum with regular niggly fouls and sat deep, occasionally executing a press.
When England did manage to penetrate the Iran backline it was Mason Mount with an effort from an acute angle that never looked like going in.
The diminutive Raheem Sterling, struggling for form after his off-season move to Chelsea, looked to get things going without much success.
Harry Maguire then went close, the crossbar reverberating from the centre-back’s header off a set-piece.
In the 35th minute it was 19-year-old Bellingham with the opening goal, and his first for his country, meeting Luke Shaw’s excellent cross with a powerful header from six yards out to settle some English nerves.
Bellingham opens the scoring (Photo by Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Off a set-piece, Bukayo Saka doubled his side’s advantage with a thunderous volley after Maguire had done well to cushion his header into the Arsenal winger’s path.
Just minutes later it was Raheem Sterling’s turn to get in on the fun, turning in Harry Kane’s cross as the Three Lions executed a perfect counter-attack.
The clock struck 45 minutes but, owing to the earlier delay, Iran still had to try and stem the bleeding for 14 more minutes.
“We had a sticky first half,” Southgate said post-game.
In an effort to switch things up Iran manager Carlos Queiroz made a triple change at half-time, injecting Saeed Ezatolahi, Hossein Kanaanizadegan and Ali Gholizadeh into the contest.
England continued to dominate proceedings, however, and it wasn’t long before Saka doubled his tally to push the scoreline out to 4-0.
Just three minutes later, Jordan Pickford’s hopes of a clean sheet were dashed by Mehdi Taremi, the Iranian’s strike going in off the crossbar and cutting the lead to three.
Saka, whose two goals had certainly earned him an early shower, was withdrawn 20 minutes from time for Marcus Rashford as part of a quadruple change from Southgate.
Also taken off was Maguire, who went straight down the tunnel for further inspection by England’s medical team.
Rashford immediately made an impact, restoring England’s four-goal lead with a calm finish after he was fed by Kane, the Spurs man notching another assist.
In the final minute of regular time, Callum Wilson could have gone on his own by instead laid on an unselfish assist to Jack Grealish, putting the cherry on top of the icing on the cake.
Catch all 64 matches of the FIFA World Cup 2022ᵀᴹ live and free on SBS and SBS On Demand.
With the last kick of the game, Taremi beat Pickford from the penalty spot to double his tally and restore a bit of pride for the Iranians.
“We’ve got to be really happy but we shouldn’t be conceding two goals at that stage,” Southgate said.
“We’ve got to be right at it for the game against the States. It was great today but we’ll have to be better.”
After a somewhat nervy beginning, in the end the 6-2 result didn’t flatter England. It gives them a healthy boost to their goal difference, which could potentially be valuable come match day 3.
The Three Lions next take on the United States on Saturday morning (AEDT). Iran will face Gareth Bale’s Wales side on Friday evening, likely needing at least a point to keep their 2022 World Cup flame flickering.
For 83 minutes the story of Senegal’s World Cup opener with the Netherlands was a tale of two absent strikers.
Then the smarts of Senegalese goalkeeper Eduoard Mendy also went missing and the three-times finalists took full advantage.
Mendy missed a cross from Frenkie de Jong allowing Cody Gakpo to head in, then spilled a weak shot from Memphis Depay giving Davy Klaassen a 99th-minute tap in.
A goal had previously seemed unlikely.
Africa Cup of Nations winners Senegal were without their talisman, Bayern Munich’s Sadio Mane, forced out of the tournament through injury days before it began.
The Dutch were without Barcelona’s Depay, sidelined for two months due to a hamstring injury.
Depay did at least get on the pitch for the last half-hour, but with his lack of match sharpness made him largely invisible, notwithstanding his late involvement in Klassen’s goal.
Without the deadly duo both teams lacked a cutting edge at Doha’s Al Thumama Stadium.
In an lively but scrappy first half the best chances fell to the Dutch.
But De Jong took too many touches wasting a chance set up by Steven Bergwijn and Virgil van Dijk headed wide after rising highest at a corner.
Senegal did not threaten until the hour mark, which allowed Dutch goalkeeper Andries Noppert, thrust into the World Cup on his international debut, a chance to settle.
The 203cm Heerenveen keeper nearly quit two years ago to join the police having never established himself as a No.1 anywhere.
Such is the speed of his career turnaround this was only the 52nd game of his professional career and he admitted before the game: “This is also bizarre to me. Even a few weeks ago I wouldn’t have expected it.”
Noppert had little to do before the 64th minute when he dived low to his left to turn aside a shot from Salernitana’s Boulaye Dia, who had been asked to fill the metaphorically huge shirt left empty by Mane.
Noppert subsequently made sharp, important saves from Idrissa Gueye and Pape Gueye.
While he shone Mendy, a Champions League winner with Chelsea, faltered to leave Senegal facing a probable eliminator in their final group match against Ecuador next week.
A late penalty by veteran striker Gareth Bale has earned Wales a 1-1 draw with the United States to avoid a losing return to the World Cup after 64 years in a fascinating Group B encounter.
Dragged down by US defender Tim Ream in the box, Wales’ all-time top-scorer Bale stepped up to the penalty spot in the 82nd minute on Monday and made no mistake by hammering the ball into the top corner in front of the “Red Wall” of fans at a raucous Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium.
With one of the youngest teams at the tournament and themselves returning after eight years, the USA started energetically and took a well-deserved 1-0 lead with a 36th minute goal from Timothy Weah. They were unlucky not to go into the break with a bigger advantage against the flat Europeans.
Weah, the son of Liberian president and former World Player of the Year George Weah, timed his run to perfection after a beautifully-weighted pass from Christian Pulisic and slipped the ball past Wales goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey.
The Welsh were fortunate not to be behind early on when Weah’s cross deflected off a helpless Joe Rodon and hit Hennessey with the goalkeeper knowing little about it. Seconds later Antonee Robinson headed wide with a good near-post opportunity.
Wales manager Rob Page made the key change at halftime when he replaced the ineffective Daniel James with the tall and muscular Kieffer Moore, who was exactly what they had been missing in the opening period. It was, suddenly, a different ball game.
The Welsh were able to apply pressure at the other end and went close twice in quick succession. First Ben Davies forced a superb stop from goalkeeper Matt Turner before Moore headed the resultant corner just over with a chance he should have buried.
Wales’ pressure paid dividends as they won a penalty when Ream, already on a yellow card for a cynical challenge earlier in the half, went through the back of Bale, who made no mistake from the spot as he thrashed the ball wide of Turner.
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