Qatar 2022 World Cup: England overwhelmed Iran on opener to claim candidate plate

The ovation when Harry Kane left the field 30 minutes into the match is a good snapshot of the match. And also a statement of principles. England has come to Qatar to take back what is theirs, the glory of the past. And Kane is the banner of that desire. For this he had no equal against Iran and, with a vigorous display of football, beat him 6 to 2. A shower of goals in a game that he only managed to unlock after 30 minutes of play.

Iran took to the field with a line of five defenders and the rest of the team took refuge in their field. He had only one goal: to resist; England, with a monopoly on the ball and the pitch, tried to break down that Iranian wall from the very first minute. The Asian team’s resistance lasted just over 30 minutes, in an unnerving start due to the injury of the Iranian goalkeeper.

the archer Alireza Beiranvand clashed with Hosseini and was lying on the floor. After more than 12 minutes of waiting and with a lot of blood on his face, he had to leave the field and make way for substitute Hossein Hosseini.

The first brick of the Iranian mute gave way, but it was necessary to open the scoring. And England managed to do it only in the 34th minute after a good collective play on the left and Shaw’s center was connected by Jude Bellingham, who left the goalkeeper who had come on a few minutes earlier without a chance. It was 1-0 and another game was opening up.

To that territorial dominance, England would add strength. That’s why it’s no surprise that a superb left foot from Bukayo Saka made it 2-0 in the 42nd minute; and that Raheem Sterling, three minutes later and with a great assist from captain Harry Kane, made it 3-0 with a subtle touch.

In the plugin, Iran has been looking for variants. Queiroz got his hands on the team and made three consecutive substitutionss: one per line to tweak a game that, at that point, seemed too uphill.

But England had no mercy. Although Iran has somehow abandoned that ultra-defensive posture, the British struck the knockout blow: it was after 16 minutes, after an excellent personal move by Bukayo Saka again at put the second of your personal account and the 4-0 with a very English touch.

There’s been an Iranian arrest. Almost a spasm. He was able to discard Mehdi Taremi three minutes later the English hit, setting up the hitherto almost non-existent Jordan Pickford high over the crossbar.

With the 4-1 doomed, Gareth Southgate has decided to change half of the team. Inside Grealish, Dier, Foden and Rashford to take care of the legs, but above all not to abandon that offensive voracity.

And it was Marcus Rashford who, at the first ball he touched, Iran went looking for him inside. All this, after a new assist from Kane with which the brown was enough to caress him towards the right post of the fuzzy Hossein Hosseini.

There were 20 minutes to go and the game would have a sixth goal for England: Jack Grealish pushed in after nearly all of the white team touched the ball. 44 minutes passed and it seemed like there was nothing left.

But there was room for another 10 minutes and a penalty sanctioned by the VAR which Taremi would have exchanged for a goal to seal a somewhat more dignified end for Iran.

England made a very tough step on their debut and proved that he is not on vacation in Qatar. The road will continue Friday at 4:00pm when measured against the US; while hours earlier, at 7am on Friday, Iran will look to improve their pale image when they face Wales.