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BVB's Jude Bellingham gave England the lead
Photo:
PAUL CHILDS / REUTERS
The English national team started the World Cup in Qatar with a convincing victory.
The »Three Lions« already led comfortably against Iran at halftime and won 6: 2 (3: 0) with goals from Jude Bellingham (35th minute), Bukayo Saka (43rd, 62nd), Raheem Sterling (45th + 1st ), Marcus Rashford (71st) and Jack Grealish (90th).
Mehdi Taremi scored for Iran (65th and 90th + 13th penalty).
It was the first game in Group B. The USA and Wales meet in the evening (8 p.m., TV: ZDF and MagentaTV).
England were captained by top striker Harry Kane.
However, the 29-year-old did not wear the "One Love" bandage on his arm, as initially announced in the run-up to the tournament.
Together with the captains of Germany (Manuel Neuer) and the Netherlands (Virgil van Dijk), England had decided against it a few hours before kick-off due to the threat of sporting sanctions from FIFA.
The English didn't give a political signal, but Iran's national team did one thing: when the national anthems were played before the game started, the Iranians didn't sing along.
Whistles could be heard in the stadium during the Iranian anthem, and teary-eyed women could be seen in the stands.
Recently, Iranian players had already expressed their support for the protests at home.
Only two players, Vahid Amiri and Mehdi Torabi, sang in the World Cup friendly against Nicaragua in early November.
The Iranian state broadcaster interrupted the live broadcast during the anthem against England.
The players could now face consequences.
There had been speculation in Iran that they might be banned if they remained silent at the anthem.
The game itself began with a bad scene in the Iranian penalty area, where goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand collided head-to-head with teammate Majid Hosseini on a cross and was down on the ground (8').
He had to have his face treated for a few minutes, stayed in the game at first, but then, visibly dazed, indicated a change (20').
Because of the long break, there was 14 minutes of stoppage time after the first half.
Short process in half one
When the game was played, England stormed.
First, the much-criticized Harry Maguire headed a corner kick against the crossbar (32'), shortly afterwards the central defender overplayed the midfield with a sharp pass through the centre.
After a quick shift to the wing, left-back Luke Shaw crossed into the penalty area, where Bellingham headed the lead unchallenged (35').
The 19-year-old BVB professional became the second youngest English World Cup goalscorer after Michael Owen (18).
Against Iran, the top talent played a similarly comprehensive role as in Dortmund: not only did Bellingham score the first goal, he was the center of the English game, winning tackles at the back, was often passable and bridged the field with clever passes and dribbling.
Maguire was also involved in the 2-0: The 1.94 meter tall giant headed a corner kick to the second post for Saka, who accepted the offer with a nice shot with a backspin (43').
Just two minutes later, Bellingham and Kane combined, and Sterling used his sharp cross to make it 3-0 (45+1).
The game was decided, but there were still goals after the restart: Saka scored his second goal with a strong individual effort (62'), before Iran's goalscorer Taremi still got the Iranian consolation goal when he hit the crossbar from close range (65'). .).
Just a few minutes later, Marcus Rashford restored the four-goal gap with the first action after being substituted on (71').
Jack Grealish, who also came on as a substitute, scored England's sixth goal, in added time Iran were awarded a penalty after a VAR check, which Taremi used to make it 2-6 (90+13).
mrk
