England defeats Iran 6-2, two goals from Saka.

With his first goal for the Three Lions, Jude Bellingham moved into the second-youngest scoring position at a World Cup for England.
When England defeated Iran in Doha, they did so in a way that was utterly convincing.

More off-field controversy was there during the game in Qatar when England was forced to abandon plans to wear the OneLove armband, which supports diversity and inclusivity, after Fifa threatened to issue players with warnings if they did so.

Iran’s bleak situation was made worse by the early loss of goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand to concussion following a collision with a teammate as Gareth Southgate’s team cruised to victory.

Ten minutes before halftime, Jude Bellingham gave England their first World Cup goal with a powerful header from Luke Shaw’s cross. Saka’s magnificent strike and Raheem Sterling’s graceful outside-of-the-foot volley from Harry Kane’s cross sealed the victory before the interval.

Mehdi Taremi’s wonderful goal after 65 minutes gave Iran’s supporters a tremendous thrill, but England’s merciless response saw Saka score his second and replacement Marcus Rashford score on his debut with both goals being composed, slick shots.

After a strong run and pullback by Callum Wilson, Jack Grealish slid home from close range to round off an extraordinarily dominant performance.

In extra time, Iran did get one back when Taremi converted a penalty after John Stones was fouled.