Bukayo's Brace: England Thrash Iran 6-2 as Saka Scores Twice

The Arsenal winger scored twice on his World Cup debut.

Written by Lachlan Sherriff.

After a six game losing streak leading up to the World Cup, it was important for England to come away with a win in their opening match of the World Cup, and they did that in tremendous fashion.

Our first big talking point was when Iran goalie Alireza Beiranvand collided with his own player and suffered a concussion. Hossein Hosseini came on to replace him and the World Cup were introduced to their first concussion substitution, a new rule which allows a player with a suspected concussion to be substituted without it counting as one of the main five substitutes.

This also grants the opponent, in this case England, an additional substitute.

Above: Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand was taken to the hospital after suffering a concussion.

The Three Lions were the better side in the opening half, as Gareth Southgate's tactics of dominating with an aerial presence worked a charm. Harry Maguire almost opened the scoring in the 31st minute, however he was denied by the crossbar. But England couldn't be kept out forever, as Maguire's Manchester United teammate Luke Shaw made a run down the flank and crossed it in towards Jude Bellingham. Bellingham stayed calm and placed a header into the top corner, as the eighteen year old scored his first goal for England.

England would again score before half-time, as Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire got involved again, as Maguire headed down a corner from Shaw into the path of Bukayo Saka. Saka took on the shot first time and struck the ball into the back of the net. 2-0 England.

Eventually the English team ran riot, as captain Harry Kane crossed it in and Raheem Sterling nudged it home on the volley.

England didn't step off the gas in the second half, as Bukayo Saka took a shot off his favored left foot and found the net for his second.

From there on, it was goal-for-goal, as Mehdi Taremi scored for Iran, before substitute Marcus Rashford scored off the bench for England. Callum Wilson set up Jack Grealish for England's sixth, before Mehdi Taremi scored a penalty with the last kick of the game to end a crazy game 6-2.

The English will now play the USA and Wales before playing a team from Group A assuming they make it out of the group.