Gareth Southgate told the England squad to “enjoy” their perfect start to their World Cup campaign as they thumped Iran in their group opener.
The Three Lions found themselves 3-0 up at the break in Doha after goals from Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling. They continued adding to their advantage after the restart through Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish - the only blots on their copy book being a brace from Porto forward Mehdi Taremi.
Regardless, it was still an excellent start to the group for England, who will head into Friday’s clash with United States in confident form.
One of the afternoon’s goalscorers, Bellingham, has revealed that the post-match message from boss Southgate was for his side to relish the victory, whilst also considering their next game.
The Borussia Dortmund star told BBC Sport: "[Southgate] just said enjoy the wins because it would've been a very different reaction had we not got that result also we've got to get ready for the next game and realise it's a new challenge coming.
"I think wins do that [raise confidence]. When you win games, you’re at ease for a little bit longer and you know there’s a bit more off you for the next two games.
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"We’ll still be at the same level trying to perform and trying to get two more wins because that’s how we want to be, that’s how we want to carry or mentality hopefully into the rest of the tournament."
It was a landmark afternoon for the 19-year-old in Doha as he notched his first international goal on what was his 18th cap for the England side. Alongside the nine he has already got for his German employers, Bellingham is enjoying a stunning season in front of goal.
He has regularly set out his intentions to get on the scoresheet more frequently but did admit that he wasn’t sure whether his opener against Iran had actually found the back of the net.
Bellingham continued: "[I] Told you I was saving it [his first England goal]! Really good day. Six goals in a World Cup game is really impressive regardless of who you play against.
"They [Iran] came out really well, really strong and hard to break down. We didn’t have anything clear for quite a while. I think with more goals, we opened them up but the start was tough but we had to dig it out even when we weren’t getting it all our own way, so it’s important we learn how to create chances against those sort of sides but we’re a bit disappointed with the two goals [we conceded] to be honest.”
