Following memorable highs of reaching the World Cup semi-finals four years ago and then the final of Euro 2020, optimism surrounding Gareth Southgate's squad had dipped heading to Qatar after a disappointing winless UEFA Nations League campaign.

However, the nation's hopes were boosted in emphatic style as the Three Lions roared to a 6-2 victory in their opening group game against Iran, their biggest-ever win in the first match of a major tournament.

Bukayo Saka scored either side of strikes from Jude Bellingham and Raheem Sterling in a dominant first-half showing, before substitutes Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish got their names on the scoresheet after the break.

Southgate took plenty of positives from his side's performance in a contest which saw nearly half an hour of stoppage time across the two halves, but he was left "fed up" after Porto's Mehdi Taremi netted two consolation goals for Iran. Indeed, the England boss has called for his players to improve their focus against a "full-throttle" USA outfit on Friday.



译文(自动翻译仅供参考):

继四年前闯入世界杯四强和2020年欧洲杯决赛的令人难忘的高潮之后，在前往卡塔尔的欧足联国家联赛中遭遇令人失望的零胜后，人们对加雷斯·索斯盖特的球队的乐观情绪有所下降。

然而，随着三狮军团在小组赛首场对阵伊朗的比赛中以6-2的比分大胜伊朗，这个国家的希望被有力地提振了起来。这是他们在重要赛事首场比赛中取得的最大胜利。

在上半场的比赛中，布卡约-萨卡和裘德-贝灵汉和拉希姆-斯特林的两粒进球都占据了主导地位，下半场替补出场的马库斯-拉什福德和杰克-格里利什的名字出现在了比分表上。

索斯盖特从他的球队在比赛中的表现中得到了很多积极的东西，比赛中有将近半个小时的补时时间，但波尔图的Mehdi Taremi为伊朗打进两个安慰球让他感到“厌烦”。事实上，英格兰主帅已经呼吁他的球员们提高他们的注意力在周五对阵“全力以赴”的美国队。