Bukayo Saka Scores Twice As England Hit Iran For Six In World Cup Group B Opener

England 6-2 Iran

Bukayo Saka scored twice as England made a spectacular start to their 2022 FIFA World Cup campaign by thrashing Group B rivals Iran in Doha on Monday.

Saka, Jude Bellingham and Raheem Sterling scored in the first half before the Arsenal youngster struck again in the second period.

Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish came off the bench to score England's fifth and sixth after Porto forward Mehdi Taremi had scored a fine consolation goal for Iran.

England captain Harry Kane claimed two assists.

The Three Lions had been on course to equal their biggest ever victory at a World Cup - a 6-1 win over Panama in 2018 - until Taremi scored his second goal of the game by converting a penalty deep into stoppage time.

Bukayo Saka pictured celebrating after scoring the first of his two goals during England's win over Iran at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

IMAGO/Ulmer/Teamfoto

Gareth Southgate opted to play a 4-3-3 formation with Harry Maguire and John Stones as his center-backs.

Maguire almost scored the game's opening goal but his headed effort hit the crossbar just after the half-hour.

England did find the net from a header three minutes later when Bellingham met a Luke Shaw cross to become his country's second youngest scorer in World Cup history.

Another youngster then got England's second when Saka found the top corner after being teed up by Maguire.

Maguire set up Sterling for goal no.3 in the first of 14 minutes of added time at the end of the first half.

The reason that so much time was added on was because Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand had earlier needed lengthy treatment after a clash of heads with a teammate.

Beiranvand went off at 0-0, throwing replacement Seyed Hossein Hosseini into the lions' den.

Despite Iran defending deep, Hosseini was frequently exposed.

Saka's second goal came at the end of a mazy run by the Arsenal man, while Rashford made it five after being found in plenty of space by Kane.

Grealish's first World Cup goal owed a lot to the work of fellow substitute Callum Wilson.

Despite England's dominance, Taremi had the last word. He sent England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford the wrong way from the penalty spot after a VAR review had found Stones guilty of pulling Morteza Pouraliganji's jersey.