England hit six and get World Cup off to a flier with easy win over Iran

ON THE SCORESHEET: England's Marcus Rashford, right, scores his side's fifth goal during the World Cup group B soccer match between England and Iran at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha. Pic: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino

ENGLAND 6 (Bellingham 35, Saka 44, 62, Sterling 45, Rashford 71, Grealish 89) IRAN 2 (Taremi 65, 90+8 pen) 

England are notoriously slow starters in tournament football, but they got this one off to a flier with a thumping 6-2 win over Iran, Asia's top-ranked side at 20th in the world.

Jude Bellingham was the star of the show as the 19-year-old ran proceedings with a towering midfield display and England's opening goal. Bukayo Saka justified his selection ahead of Phil Foden with two well taken goals, Raheem Sterling added another before half-time and substitutes Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish completed the scoring.

The only surprise was that England hit six without Harry Kane getting on the scoresheet, although he played a captain's role from the start, leading his team-mates in taking the knee, and creating two of England's goals before going off in the 75th minute as a precautionary measure.

While Gareth Southgate was a delighted manager, Carlos Queiroz must have known in the eighth minute it was not to be Iran's day when he had to swap goalkeepers after a horrific clash of heads between defender Majid Hosseini and keeper Alireza Beyranvand, who needed extensive treatment and was eventually replaced by Hossein Hosseini.

And the replacement had little chance as England started racking up the goals. After a slow and disjointed start, with a series of niggly fouls disrupting England's attempts to get forward, Southgate's men finally broke through in the 35th minute with a magnificent header from Bellingham, who became England's youngest World Cup scorer since Michael Owen in 1998.

The Dortmund midfielder is only 19 but rose like a seasoned centre-forward to power a header into the roof of the net from Luke Shaw's left-wing cross.

England were ahead and the thousands of fans here in the Khalifa Stadium celebrated loudly, drowning out the Iranian supporters who had made their presence felt in the early stages.

And they were silenced ten minutes later when England scored two goals in quick succession to end the game as a contest. Saka scored first, lashing in a left-foot volley from 16 yards after Harry Maguire headed back a corner from Kieran Trippier, the ball brushing the underside of the bar before hitting the net.

A minute later, Bellingham won the ball in midfield, set Kane away and the England captain produced a sharp turn and perfect cross for Sterling to steer in from close range with the outside of his boot.

Queiroz made three substitutions at half-time in a bid to limit the damage, but England increased their lead in the 62nd minute when Saka scored again. Sterling played in the Arsenal man, who patiently jinked his way across the edge of the penalty area from the right before spotting a gap and planting a left-footed shot into the far corner of goal from 15 yards.

He was denied a hat-trick when he was replaced by Rashford shortly after Mehdi Tarimi had scored for Iran. The FC Porto striker reacted quickly with a first-time shot past Jordan Pickford when he was picked out by substitute Ali Gholizadeh to hit a rising shot into the roof of the net, but Iran's joy was shortlived when Rashford scored within a minute of replacing Saka.

Kane was the creator once again, releasing the Manchester United forward, who cut in from the right to send a left-footed shot past Hosseini. Kane had turned his ankle when fouled early in the second half, but stayed on until the 75th minute, when Callum Wilson replaced him.

And Wilson was the provider when Grealish tapped in in the 89th minute at the end of another move that had been initiated by Bellingham.

Taremi scored again in stoppage time with a penalty, after John Stones fouled Morteza Pouraliganji, but it was little consolation for Iran.

After all the pre-match debate about whether Kane should wear a “One Love” armband in support of LGBT rights, FIFA’s threat to book him caused a change of heart at the FA, although the England captain led his players in taking the knee before kick-off as a show of defiance against racism.

And by the end they had demonstrated they are a force to be reckoned with at this World Cup.

ENGLAND 4-3-3: Pickford 7; Trippier 7, Stones 7, Maguire 7 (Dier 70), Shaw 7; Bellingham 9, Rice7 , Mount 7 (Foden 70); Saka 8 (Rashford 70), Kane 8 (Wilson 75), Sterling 7 (Grealish 70).

IRAN 5-3-2: Beiranvand 6 (Hosseini 19); Moharrami 5, Pouraliganji 4, Cheshmi 5 (Kanaanizadegan 46), Hosseini 5, Mohammidi 4 (Ezatollahi 46); Nourollahi 6 (Azmoun 77), Karimi 5, Hajsafi 5; Jahanbakhsh 5 (Gholizadeh 46), Taremi 7. 

Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil) 6/10.