England vs Iran final score: 6-2
England thrashed Iran 6 to 2 in the Group B starter on Monday, November 21. The Irani players seemed helpless in front of Gareth Southgate’s men. England found nets six times in the pretty much one-sided match where Bukayo Saka scored twice while Jude Bellingham, Raheem Sterling, Rashford, and Grealish scored each for England.
Iran, who were 3 goals behind at the end of the first half conceded three more goals in the second half while they also scored twice. Taremi scored the first goal for Iran in the 64th minute while the second goal came in a penalty in the 10th minute of additional time. With the massive win, England sits on top of the Group B table while two other teams; Netherlands and Senegal are to play their first game later this evening.
Let’s look at other details of the match.
England Playing XI Against Iran
1. Pickford (GK) — 12. Trippier, 5. Stones, 6. Maguire, 3. Shaw — 22. Bellingham, 4. Rice, 19. Mount — 17. Saka, 9. Kane, 10. Sterling (Formation: 4-3-3; right to left)
Iran Playing XI Against England
1. Beiranvand (GK) — 2. Moharrami, 15. Cheshmi, 19. Hosseini, 8. Pouraliganji 5. Mohammadi — 7. Jahanbakhsh, 3. Hajsafi, 18. Karimi, 21. Nourollahi — 9. Taremi (Formation: 5-4-1; right to left)
First Half Highlights
19′ Iran’s substitution goalkeeper A. Beiranvand comes off for Hossein Hosseini (Substitution due to concussion to the goalkeeper)
25′ Irani midfielder Jahanbakhsh receives a yellow card
34′ Jude Bellingham opens up England’s scorecard with a header
42′ Bukayo Saka scores second goal for England
45+1′ Raheem Sterling’s goal gives England a 3-0 lead in the first half
Second Half Highlights
46′ Iran makes three substitutions at half-time; Ali Gholizadeh, Hossein Kanaani, and S. Ezatolahi enter the field for Ali Karimi, Jahanbakhsh, and R. Cheshmi respectively.
47′ M. Puraliganji receives a yellow card
61′ Saka hits his personal second and team’s fourth goal
62′ Substitution for Iran; M. Torabi comes in for Milad Mohammadi
64′ M. Taremi scores first goal for Iran
70′ Four substitutions for England; Maguire, Sterling, Saka, and Mount come off the pitch for Dier, Foden, Grealish, and Rashford
71′ Marcus Rashford scores the fifth goal for England just after entering into the pitch
75′ Fifth and the final substitution for England; captain Harry Kane comes off for Callum Wilson
89′ Grealish scores sixth English goal
90+10′ M. Taremi scores his and the team’s second goal from the spot
What was The Prediction and How Did the Match Go?
Well, England certainly was the favorite to win the game against Iran. However, very few might have expected England will be able to score half a dozen of goals. Even Sports Mundial had predicted England will win by 2-1 considering Iran’s stubborn defense and the strong goalkeeper. However, with the first goalkeeper departing early with a head concussion and defenders performing below par; it was a pretty convincing win for the three lions.
In the meantime, England performed excellently in their first match. England has a number of world-class players in every department in their 26-man roster for this world cup which gives them the flexibility to play in different tactics according to the situation.
While on the other hand, Iran’s squad isn’t that weak, however, we must say, their performance in their first match of World Cup 2022 was below par and the scoreline suggests pretty much so.
