FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: England thrash Iran 6-2

Gulf News

England’s Fifa World Cup campaign opened in thoroughly convincing fashion as they outclassed Iran 6-2 in Doha. Gareth Southgate's side strolled to victory, with Iran’s hopeless plight made worse by the early loss of goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand to concussion after a clash of heads with team-mate Majid Hosseini. Meanwhile, Senegal were beaten 2-0 by the Netherlands thanks to two late goals. The Gulf News football experts discuss both matches and look ahead to the Argentina Vs Saudi Arabia and France Vs Australia clashes taking place tomorrow.  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  #fifaqatar2022 #fifaworldcup

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00:00You're watching Golf News, kicking back tonight, England have opened up their World Cup campaign

00:15with a superb win against Iran. I mean, there's no other words for it. They've won 6-2 tonight.

00:20It was expected to be a tight contest against, we all know how the Iranians play, they're

00:25quite defensive. They like to get ten men behind the ball. It was supposed to be a tough

00:29match, but in the end, England have outclassed their opponents in the Group B clash in their

00:34opener. Nick, what have you made of that?

00:37Wow, what a statement to all the other teams in the World Cup. Beyond my expectations,

00:44I'm buzzing. It was a great performance. Southgate must be chuffed. We got a 3-0 lead at half-time,

00:53it was able to use a lot of subs. I think the injury to the goalie might have upset Iran a

01:03little, but I've never seen a match with 15 minutes injury time, first half, 10 minutes,

01:08second half, but we blew them away. Absolutely, front to back. Great to see us on the attack and

01:16let's keep it going. A bit of a worry about Maguire. Was that concussion, so he might miss

01:24Friday's match, six days, but apart from that, what a performance.

01:28Speaking of Maguire, Nick, when I saw that team sheet and I saw his name and I've got to be

01:33honest with you, I was thinking, oh dear, it's a mistake. Southgate's done it again. He puts all

01:37his trust in the players that he obviously likes, but Maguire has hardly played much in the Premier

01:43League for this season, but he was given a starting role. Shamsir, how well do you think

01:47Maguire and overall England did today? Yeah, Maguire, when he puts on this shirt,

01:54the three-line shirt, he usually performs. And this game, it was too easy for the defenders,

02:00to be honest, because England had 79% of possession, hardly had anything to do

02:06defensively because the ball was with them all the time. And you're expecting your defenders

02:12to be calm on the ball because you have the possession all the time. So, you can't really

02:17say that Maguire is back, but he had a good game. You have to give him credit. But the players that

02:24we have to talk about are the young bloods over there, especially Saka. The player was absolutely

02:31brilliant. And the way that he scored a goal, and you remember the last tournament that England

02:35were in, this guy missed a crucial penalty and he had gone on with the racist comments and all

02:40these things. And that's a perfect answer. Brilliant, brilliant display. And Jude Bellingham,

02:45man, that guy, Dortmund will be asking 200 million for that guy because he's a special,

02:50special talent. England's golden boy. And see, what Southgate has done is that,

02:55playing the players in their usual position. You just play them in their natural position and that's

03:01it. You can get the results. You're playing a three at the back, being over-cautious. That's

03:07not the way. England should be playing from the front foot, from the front. That's the

03:12thing. Yeah, that was the difference that I saw in this game. But it was too easy. Bigger

03:15tests are coming up. I'm not exaggerating there, Shamsri, but you mentioned Jude Bellingham.

03:21I think, yeah, England have had that problem before. We couldn't play Lampard and Gerrard

03:25together for some reason. Two of the best players in the world, they just couldn't do it together.

03:29But I think Bellingham is the perfect mix of Lampard and Gerrard, and a bit of Paul

03:35Sculls in there as well. He had such a good game. And I really do think that the way he's

03:39playing, you're right, for Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga, and the way he started tonight

03:44for England, I think he could be the main man for the moment. All the talk's been about Harry Kane.

03:49Funny enough, look, Shams, England have scored six goals today. Harry Kane didn't even get a

03:53look-in. Sum up that performance from England for us. I mean, it's a very, very dominant

04:00performance. I mean, I certainly expected a maximum of something like a 2-0 win for England.

04:08Because like you said, Iran always plays a very defensive game. They lie back and

04:14absorb the pressure and counterattacks. This is their game. And to see their defense collapse

04:19like that, I mean, I was unbelievable. And part of that credit should go to the way England

04:28functioned. And I know Shamsher talked about how sarcastic of a performance. I mean,

04:33I was blown away by that. Especially his second goal, what a gem of a goal, I thought.

04:39I mean, that is a goal of the highest calibre. And not just that, other impressive

04:46things for me was the return to form of Raheem Sterling, really. That goal, the first-time flick,

04:52wow. That is Raheem Sterling at his best, really. So, he has been taking a lot of flak for not

04:58scoring a flick. And I think that's a perfect answer from him. Not just that, I also loved the

05:03role Harry Kane is playing. He is no longer the predator. He is no longer the striker who plays

05:11up front, getting those goals. But he is setting up goals beautifully. Especially those asses,

05:17stunning. Especially the one he set up. Sterling was perfect. Beautifully pulled around the

05:22defence. Lovely touch from Sterling to me the first time. So, I think England hit all the boxes

05:29well tonight. But again, it's too early to take too much away from this game. Because, I mean,

05:35Iran was really bad. Really bad. Actually, they came back into the match quite late in the game.

05:43In fact, they came into the last third of the England box only pretty late in the match. Till

05:49then, they were really, really bad. By then, the match was pretty much in England's bag. So, like

05:54Shamshir says, tougher tests are to come. But this is certainly a good launch pad for England. They

05:59will take a lot of heart from this victory. They certainly will take a lot of heart, Nick,

06:04from this victory. I was remembering the last World Cup, 2018, we scored six against Panama

06:08then as well. And getting those goals just helps the confidence in the team. It builds the momentum.

06:14We've got six today in our very first game in a really dominating performance. Yeah,

06:19Iran weren't too bad. But to be honest, I mean, they had 10 men behind the ball for most of that

06:24game. And for us to break them down at will, especially down the flanks, Lucho and Trippier,

06:29you know, our full backs were bombing on. They had such a good game. They were playing,

06:32you know, they were splitting them up wide, playing with lots of width. And then the three

06:36guys in the middle there, Declan Rice, Mason Mann, who had a really good game, and especially

06:41Bellingham. But Nick, I mean, this is just a sore result that England needed, Southgate wanted,

06:46just to get the momentum. We've got our next game. But you've mentioned Harry Maguire, who had a

06:50really good game at centre back. He's going to be missing because rule is, if it's a concussion,

06:55he has to sit out the next game. So how do you think we're going to get on in our next one

07:00against the US? I thought Dai came in and steadied the ship. Maguire had, you know,

07:07a header against the bar. So I think we have positive momentum, not just from the 11 players

07:14that kicked off. Was it four or five subs we brought on? They seemed to seamlessly hit the

07:20ground running. So I've no worries about US. The confidence was up, the teamwork. We're

07:26traditionally slow starters, but I thought it was a special performance. Let's not burn out

07:31too quickly. Let's keep it going and really looking forward to Friday. And in fact, getting

07:38that 3-0 advantage at half time allowed Southgate to make some early second half changes, which he

07:43maybe wouldn't have done had the game been in the balance, had it been 0-0 or 1-0. He probably

07:48would have stuck with his first 11 until the 90th minute. But by having that 3-goal advantage,

07:52he's allowed to get a few minutes into the legs of, for example, Rashford, who was on the pitch

07:57for I think 49 seconds. He got off the mark as well. So yeah, overall, a very, very good performance

08:04from England. That's just a start that they wanted. They go into Friday's game against the US

08:10full of confidence. The other game played tonight was a very cagey affair. It was Senegal against

08:14the Netherlands. It was 0-0 for most of the way until the last 10 minutes where there was an error,

08:20I believe, by Senegal goalkeeper Mendy. It came up, went for a ball, missed it completely

08:25and the Netherlands broke the deadlock. Shamsir, was that a mistake from the Chelsea man?

08:31It was clearly a mistake. It was two mistakes for Mendy. Senegal had actually played so well.

08:37I was thinking if Sadio Mane would have been there, a big difference would have been made.

08:41Because Senegal were actually stopping Netherlands from having a shot on target until the 80th

08:48minute. That goal, Gatko scored, was their first shot on target. So, Senegal were playing

08:54really well. And Gatko, that goal, the pass from Frenkie de Jong, the magician, he's a brilliant

09:01footballer. That was a brilliant one. But still, Mendy should have done better. That should have

09:07done better. So, he has… For that goal and the second one also, he should have parried away, man.

09:12That was far from the player. Klaassen, he hardly scores goals and he scored for Dutch in that

09:18game. And to be honest, this group, it's a very interesting group. And Senegal will be thinking

09:25with the performance that they put up in this game, they'll be thinking, okay, they can get

09:30six points from the next remaining games. But if they would have drawn this game, the confidence

09:34would have been so high for them. But yeah, the performance-wise, Senegal played well. But

09:40Netherlands got all three points. I was pleased with the Netherlands' second goal because purely

09:45from a selfish point of view, it was Davy Klaassen, like you just mentioned,

09:48former Everton player. We bought him from Ajax for 30 million. And unfortunately, he just never

09:53settled. The game was just way too quick for him in the Premier League. He was playing under Ronald

09:57Koeman in that season and he just never made it. But he's reinvented himself. He's back in the

10:02national fold and he's got a goal. Sharma, I know that you were looking forward to this game.

10:06Did you enjoy that? It was an interesting… It was like a game of chess almost. It was very

10:09cagey affair up until the last 10 minutes where unfortunately a mistake has caused… Well,

10:14two mistakes, as Shamsir pointed out. And the game has been lost and Senegal now find

10:18themselves playing catch-up. Actually, it was a game full of errors for me. Two error-prone

10:26games, actually. I mean, if you look at the misses that's made in the first half, especially

10:33Frank Lidjong, he actually delayed his shot. He was tackler and that is the kind of mistake you

10:42wouldn't expect from a player of his class, really. So, it was pretty much error-prone until the last

10:499 seconds or the last 10 minutes of the game. But like Shamsir said, I think Senegal really,

10:55really missed Sadio Mane. Yeah, he's going to be… If Sadio Mane was there, I think maybe we could

11:02even had a different result. And that would have really opened up the group, really. But what I

11:10loved the game was both of them play an open game and I love open game because it becomes a

11:14free-flowing game. And it's no better sight than seeing the ball shift from one goal mouth to the

11:20another. I mean, I love that, seriously. So, which is what we saw today. But most of the bulk of the

11:29match, there were not many shots at the goal. In fact, Senegal had more shots at the goal than

11:33the Dutch. And the Dutch were not on target until the goal came on. But all in all, an enjoyable

11:39game. Yeah, it was an enjoyable one. And well done to the Netherlands. We've got four games

11:46tomorrow. Let's have a quick chat about each of them quickly. We've got Argentina against

11:50Saudi Arabia. I think we're all excited to see Argentina play. They're on the back of this

11:53amazing 36-game unbeaten run. They're playing some fantastic football. We all know they're

11:59star men, but they've got other great players in that team. Angel Di Maria, for instance,

12:03is looking really good and sharp again. Shamsir, how do you see it going tomorrow?

12:07Argentina against Saudi Arabia. It should be a straightforward win for Argentina, shouldn't it?

12:11That's what you think. But Saudi Arabia has been preparing for this match for two months,

12:16I think, because they stopped their league way earlier than any other countries. And they were

12:22preparing for this game. So, they'll be all pumped to play Argentina. A lot of supporters

12:27will be there crossing the border, coming to support the team. But like what you said,

12:31Argentina are in really good form. They haven't been beaten since 2019,

12:38because the last time they were beaten was by Brazil in a Copa America semi-final. After that,

12:43they haven't lost a single game. And all their players… The difference in this Argentina team

12:49that I can see is that there aren't a lot of superstars. Yes, they have a few across the pitch,

12:56but the unity and all of them are ready to go for the world. And they all know that their idol,

13:01Mr. Messi, is going to be playing his last World Cup. And he's there ready for the last dance. And

13:07all these guys, they want to win it for him. So, everybody is pumped. And the system that

13:12Scaloni is playing, it is getting the best out of Messi. And they have the big game player in

13:18Engel Di Maria, which people don't really talk about. He's very underrated. He scores in the

13:23finals. There are talks about if Engel Di Maria would have been playing in the 2014 final,

13:30Argentina would have won that game. Because he was not there in that game because of injury.

13:35So, he is such a big game player. And like what I said, the unity is the strength of

13:40Argentina's side, which you never really associate with them. So, that's the difference I can see.

13:45And they should win. But Saudi Arabia won't be a walk in the park for them.

13:51Nick, how do you see it going? Argentina and Saudi Arabia. Messi, obviously,

13:56looking to leave on a complete, on a real high. He's 35 now. I mean, he's already said that this

14:01is going to be his last World Cup. But you never know. If you look at Zlatan Ibrahimovic, he's 41.

14:06He was still playing for Sweden. They didn't make the World Cup. But four years from now,

14:10and with the way he's playing now, especially, like we said before, he's not doing those meandering

14:14runs anymore. He's not really beating four or five players. He's more stationary. He's on the edge of

14:19the box. He's waiting for the ball to come. And especially with those dead ball situations,

14:23I mean, he'll never go out well to be able to produce the goods from those.

14:27Do you think, well, he's already said it is his last World Cup. But would you like to see him

14:31again in America four years from now? Yeah, I'm a romantic. So, we all like our

14:37superstars to be showcased on the biggest stage. Interesting. It's the early match. It's

14:44it's 2pm here. It'll be interesting to see if, you know, it's the first early match. Will

14:50Heat be an impact? And Messi being, you know, slightly older. Well, you know, it's the first

14:56time we've got an early early match in our schedule. But I'm a Messi fan. So it's Argentina

15:02all the way for me. That's a very good point. In fact, Nick, Sharm, what do you think? I mean,

15:06he's right. The games we've had so far, we had an eight o'clock kickoff yesterday. We've had a

15:10five o'clock kickoff today. Another eight o'clock kickoff. We're going to have an eleven o'clock

15:15game. But tomorrow they are going to be playing at two o'clock. OK, we know the stadiums have got

15:19the fantastic air conditioning inside them. But it will be a bright, sunny day. And 35-year-old

15:25Messi, is he going to wilt under the sun? I don't think so, because I think you yourself

15:34wrote about him after watching him in the friendly against the UAE. He's no longer the guy who's

15:39sprinting down to the box. He's just playing a more withdrawn role and more of a creative role.

15:48So, I don't think he's going to wilt. But he'll play for 90 minutes. Unless Argentina runs up a

15:55huge, huge lead early on. They'll do something exactly like what England did today. Giving more

16:00players time on the pitch. But otherwise, I think Messi will play for 90 minutes. Because he needs

16:09that time to get going. Because you're going to a tournament, really. So, you have to be at your

16:14peak fitness. So, I don't think anybody would wilt in that kind of speed.

16:18Maybe he'll come out with an umbrella. We'll have to see tomorrow. The other big game is France

16:22against Australia. Now, we know France have got a lot of problems all of a sudden. The injuries have

16:27struck at the worst possible time. Before the tournament started, we knew that they were going

16:30to be without Kante, without Pogba, without Fofana at the back. And now, obviously, they've lost their

16:37star man, Karim Benzema. Shamsir, I mean, yeah, they've got a lot of injuries. They've got a lot

16:42of players to come in for their place. But people like Oliver Giroud, who probably will start

16:47tomorrow, he's a very good replacement, isn't he? How do you think they're going to get against

16:51the Aussies tomorrow? He's not even a replacement. He can't be the number one. Because in 2018,

16:58when France won the World Cup, he didn't score a single goal. But he was pivotal for that team.

17:05Because his link-up play, his hold-up play, all these things were very important for France. But

17:10the France code has changed. The way they play has changed. So, it was more like Karim Benzema,

17:16and Griezmann, and Mbappe. They were playing together for the last couple of years.

17:22So, Giroud was not getting involved that much. But yes, he is an apt replacement. And he can

17:29lead that line. Because his intricate passing and all these things can work. And it's soccer rules,

17:34man. And yes, they're going to put up a fight. But still, I think France will have lots of

17:39players. Especially the Paitsey players, Cormans, Dembele, Mbappe, all these guys. And Choumeini,

17:45Kamawinga in the midfield. I think it will be too much for them. Yes, there are talks about the

17:50hoodoo of the champions getting out from the group stage. But this game, particularly, I think it

17:55will be France winning comfortably, I can see. France winning comfortably, right? We'll see how

18:01all four teams get on. All four matches, how the teams get on tomorrow. That's all from tonight.

18:07Head to golfnews.com for all the latest news and all the reviews and videos. And of course,

18:12check us out on our social media channels. Thanks, guys. And see you later.

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