England kick off the World Cup with a convincing win over Iran
The second day of the sweltering Qatar World Cup finals. The strongest team in Asia, Iran, was thrashed 6-2 by the football nation, England, in Group B.
It was the first time England and Iran had played each other. Even more so because England, which made it to the semi-finals of the last World Cup and the final of the European Championship, had just lost six straight games before going to Qatar.
If we look at England's history, they've only made it to the World Cup once, in 1966. The Iranian national football team is in its sixth World Cup finals and is the highest-ranked Asian team in the world rankings. It was first seen in Argentina in 1978.
England defeats Iran in their opening game of the World Cup
The match started badly for the Iranians, with Iran's starting goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand sustaining an injury early on. He tried to restart the game but was unsuccessful, and a substitution was forced - Hossein Hosseini came in goal.
Iran goalkeeper suffers serious injury
After a rather awkward start, midfielder Jude Bellingham, who plays for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, opened the scoring. He scored his first goal with a beautiful header, which is also the first goal for the England team in this World Cup final.
Bellingham opens the scoring
In the 43rd minute, Harry Maguire plays a beautiful pass to Bukayo Saka, and the ball is in the Iranian net, with the score 2-0 on the board.
Saka makes it 2-0 for England
Before the break, England manages another goal when Harry Kane passes to Rahim Sterling and the score is 3-0. England went into the break with a comfortable lead.
Sterling scores
The second half started in England's favor as Saka easily put the ball in the net, as if he was playing a game, and caught the Iranian defenders off guard, to make it 4-0 and add his second goal to the tally.
Saka scores his second goal to make it 4-0
Moments later, the Iranians managed to reduce the deficit as Mehdi Taremi struck England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford to make it 4-1.
Iran manages to reduce the goal difference
The joy was short-lived, however, as Marcus Rushford, who had just come on, immediately scored with his first touch of the ball.
Rushford makes it 5:1
In the 90th minute, England was not about to give up as Jack Grealish received a good cross and sent the ball into the net to make it 6-1.
England continue to fire until the end
But the game didn't end there, as Iran was awarded an 11-meter penalty kick by Taremi at the very end of injury time.
Taremi converts an 11-meter penalty kick
At the very end of the match, Iran is awarded an 11-meter penalty kick by Taremi. The game ends at 6:2.
