Internationals – Kane and Dier off to great start at World Cup, Sanchez scores for Colombia
Mon 21 November 2022, 15:21|
Tottenham Hotspur
Harry Kane captained England to a 6-2 victory over Iran as the Three Lions opened their World Cup campaign in emphatic style in Qatar on Monday afternoon.
Keen to get off to a fast start in Group B, Gareth Southgate’s men did just that, scoring three times either side of half-time to claim maximum points.
Skipper Harry started and provided the assists for England’s third and fifth goals, scored by Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford, before being withdrawn 14 minutes from the end of normal time, while Eric was introduced as a 70th-minute substitute after Harry Maguire was forced off.
Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka (2) and Jack Grealish were responsible for England’s other goals, while Mehdi Taremi replied twice for Iran, including from a controversially-awarded penalty with the last kick of the game.
Next up for England is a clash with USA on Friday (7pm UK).
Sanchez goal caps busy week of friendlies
A number of our players were in international action in the days leading up to the start of the World Cup, with Davinson Sanchez grabbing the headlines with his first goal for Colombia.
On his 51st appearance for his country, the defender powered home a back-post header to give his side a 14th-minute lead in an eventual 2-0 win over Paraguay in Florida in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Later that day, Matt Doherty put in his second 90-minute shift of the week in Republic of Ireland’s 1-0 victory in Malta, having also featured in a 2-1 home defeat to Norway on Thursday.
Elsewhere, Bryan Gil played the first half of Spain Under-21s’ 2-0 home win over Japan on Friday, while Ivan Perisic featured as a 65th-minute substitute for Croatia in their 1-0 World Cup warm-up friendly victory in Saudi Arabia last Wednesday.
Youth team player Tom Bloxham has also been in action for Republic of Ireland Under-18s at a tournament in Croatia in recent days, starting in a 3-1 win over Sweden last midweek before featuring as a substitute in a 5-3 defeat to Denmark on Friday. He wasn’t involved in Monday morning’s goalless draw with the host nation.
