The game started with the three lions dominating most the ball and the first tight call came in the 4th minute with Maguire taking a tumble in the box after being pulled down by Cheshmi but the ref and var both said it wasn’t a pen. then the first chance went to England as Kane chips a ball into the back post, but all Maguire could do was put it in the side netting. In the same move an unfortunate clash of heads between two Iranian stopped the game for a few minutes and unfortunately the goalkeeper couldn’t keep playing and was stretchered off.
The three lions kept dominating the ball and created loads of chances then after all this domination the goal finally came as from a looping cross from Shaw Jude Bellingham managed to rise the highest to head the ball in and to score his first world cup goal on his debut in the tournament and becoming the second youngest scorer at the world cup for the three lions. That goal managed to give them confidence to find a second goal then a few minutes later it was 2 as from a Trippier corner he finds Maguire who nods it back for Saka to volley it into the top right corner who also gets his first goal at the world cup on his first appearance in the competition.
This has been one of the best England world cup performances and it was soon to become even better as Harry Kane crossed the ball for Raheem Sterling to tap in from six yards 3-0 and surely game over now for the three lions as they have been electric the whole of the first half and Iran have barely had a sniff the whole game.
Second half and the three lions are still dominating their opponents but not really been creating many chances, but they have managed to keep the ball well and stopped their opponents from creating many chances. Then out of nowhere they managed to find their 4th goal as Saka raced through on goal to score their 4th and his second of the game it started to look like a battering but their opponents found a goal back as Taremi latched onto a good through ball from Gholizadeh 4-1 but surely the game was out of reach for them, then it was made even worse as Rashford came on and made an instant impact as he only came on for 49 seconds and made a big impact calmy slotting the ball into the bottom corner 5-1 and surely that was game set and match now.
After that goal the three lions slowed down the pace and just played it calmly and Iran started to dominate the chances in that period and they almost came close to a second goal as Taremi raced through on goal, but Dier’s presence made him force the shot and it went high over the bar. The three lions started to create more chances than they managed to find a 6th as Bellingham slides an excellent through ball for Wilson who unselfishly laid it on a plate for Grealish to slide it into the open net his celebration was good as well dedicating it to his friend Finley who he promised that he would do his celebration next time he scored and he kept that promise 6-1 and they were on their way to a comfortable win in their first game. That wasn’t the end of the key moments in this game as from a free kick as John Stones held the shirt of Taremi who fell to the ground and won a penalty which Taremi coolly slots in to get a consolation goal for his country 6-2 the final score as England start the world cup with a comfortable win.
Man of the Match: Jude Bellingham
It was an exceptional performance from him as he was the main contributor for everything that went well for England today for someone who’s only nineteen it feels like he’s been playing for ages. the stats back it up Aswell as he completed the most dribbles and most tackles and had 113 touches on the ball in his first world cup game, he managed to take his goal well which started the England dominance. Its mad to think he was fourteen when the last world cup was on now, he’s there at nineteen dominating the midfield and playing well and if he keeps these performances up his price tag will only get bigger and bigger.
Flop of the game: Alireza Jahanbakhsh
It was a game to forget for the former Brighton man as he was hooked off at half time and it was deserved as he had a terrible first half picking up an early yellow card by mistiming his tackle on shaw and it only got worse as he only managed to have 16 touches of the ball and compared to some of the other players in that game it was not good enough. It showed as his manager hooked him off at half time as he wasn’t having a good game especially to his standard.
The stats were massively dominated by the three lions as they had fourteen shots on goal to their opponents two on goal and they also dominated possession having seventy five percent whilst their opponents had a lowly twenty five percent it was not a good performance from Iran who will hopefully recover and perform much better as they take on Wales on Friday which will be a massive game for both of them.
Luke's Football blog 