Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford put last year's European Championship loss behind them, combining to score three goals in England's 6-2 rout of Iran on November 21 (Monday) at the World Cup. Both players missed penalties in the shootout loss to Italy in the Euro 2020 final and were then subjected to racist abuse. A year later, Saka scored twice at Khalifa International Stadium and Rashford came off the bench to add another with his first move of the match.
While young England stars hogged the limelight with their sublime skills after leading the Three Lions to an emphatic start to the campaign, it was Iranian players who made headlines ahead of kick-off. When both teams lined up for the national anthems ahead of the referee's opening whistle, Iran players opted against singing their country's anthem.
The Iranian players decided not to sing the national anthem in order to show solidarity with anti-government protesters back in their homeland. Throughout the anthem, Iranian players stood grim-faced and silent as they were even booed by a certain section of fans inside the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha.
Since the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody on September 16, Iran has seen massive protests in the country. The 22-year-old Amini was pronounced dead three days after getting arrested in Tehran for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic’s dress code for women that mandates a hijab headscarf.
Coming back to the game, Jude Bellingham scored the first goal in the 35th minute - his first international goal.
Saka then got his first of the match in the 43rd and Raheem Sterling added another in first-half stoppage time. Saka scored his second shortly after the hour, but Mehdi Taremi pulled one back for Iran in the 65th minute.
Rashford struck six minutes later to extend England's lead to 5-1, and Jack Grealish also stepped off the bench to add a sixth in the 90th. Taremi added another for Iran from the penalty spot deep in injury time after John Stones was penalized for holding Morteza Pouraliganji's shirt in the box.
The game was delayed for several minutes in the first half when Iran goalkeeper Ali Beiranvand clashed heads with a teammate. He was eventually taken off the field on a stretcher with the score still 0-0.
His replacement, Hossein Hosseini, was left with the unenviable task of facing England's potent attack.
The match had a total of 29 minutes of injury time, 15 minutes in the first half and 14 in the second.
(With PTI inputs)
