Enner Valencia of Ecuador scored the first goal of the Qatar World Cup when he nailed a penalty in the 16th minute against the host on Sunday. Valencia, who is the only player among both sides to have played in a World Cup before, won the penalty himself after he was bought down by Qatar keeper Saad Al Sheeb. Valencia’s second goal in the 31st minute eventually sealed the deal for his team.
The U.S. went into the break against Wales with a deserved 1-0 advantage handed to them following a superb finish by Timothy Weah, the son of former World Player of the Year and current Liberia president George.
Wales’ pressure paid dividends as they won a penalty when USA’s Tim Ream, already on a yellow card for a cynical challenge earlier in the half, went through the back of Bale, who made no mistake from the spot as he thrashed the ball wide of U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner.
Cody Gakpo rose to glance a header in from a cross by Frenkie de Jong in the 84th minute with Netherlands’ first effort on target against Senegal.
Substitute Davy Klaassen then secured the victory deep in injury time, following up to score after Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy had saved from Memphis Depay, who had also come off the bench.
Jude Bellingham’s first international goal opened England’s scoring in the 35th minute. At 19 years and 145 days, Bellingham became England’s third youngest starter at a World Cup behind Luke Shaw in 2014 and Michael Owen in 1998.
England opened its World Cup in style with Bukayo Saka’s brace in a 6-2 rout of Iran at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha. Saka’s first goal came when he made a neat connection to send a bouncing ball thundering into the top right corner. In a mellower second half, Saka added his second and England’s fourth in the 62nd minute after Raheem Sterling drove past a heavy challenge to feed his young teammate.
It was Raheem Sterling, once considered the shining young light of English football, who added the third goal in the first of the 14 long minutes of injury time. Jude Bellingham was the creator, manoeuvring his way past a few challenges to spread it wide to Harry Kane inside the box – the skipper unselfishly played a low cross to Sterling, who thumped home England’s third.
Marcus Rashford of England scores his team's fifth goal during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group B match between England and Iran at the Khalifa International Stadium.
Mehdi Taremi added a second goal for Iran from the penalty spot deep in stoppage time after John Stones was penalized for holding Morteza Pouraliganji’s shirt in the box. Taremi had earlier pulled one back for Iran in the 65th minute.
Jack Grealish tapped home the final goal from close range in England’s 6-2 win over Iran and marked the moment with a broad smile and stretched his arms out to the side, rolling them in waves.
COMMents
Comments
SHARE