Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Gareth Southgate's young England stars shift World Cup narrative onto the football - Nick Westby

Football’s first winter World Cup held in the Middle East has been dogged by question marks from the moment Qatar was awarded the tournament 12 years ago.

Be it dangerous working conditions for migrant workers, the rights of the LGBT+ community or even the banning of alcohol in stadia just 48 hours before the tournament kicked-off, there has been very little positive news emanating from the 22nd edition of football’s greatest show.

One wondered when talk would finally get onto the football.

How refreshing then that England’s performance on the field at the Khalifa International Stadium helped shift the narrative.

Sparked by Jude Bellingham becoming only the second teenager to score for England in a World Cup after Michael Owen at France ’98, England produced a devastating attacking spell towards the end of a prolonged first half in which Bukayo Saka also thumped in a beauty and old stagers Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling combined for a third.

In the heat of the desert, England would have been forgiven for taking it easy in the second half, job done, points in the bag.

But they just continued feasting, Saka adding a second with another fine strike. That the man who got the fifth was Marcus Rashford - who like Saka missed a penalty in the shootout in the final of Euro 2020 at Wembley 16 months earlier – was an uplifting footnote.

It was England at their free-flowing best, not something we are used to seeing in the opening game of a tournament, one usually enjoyed in a beer garden in short sleeves, not a Monday lunchtime in November with a corn beef sandwich and a mug of tea in hand, the fire blazing out in blatant disregard at the energy crisis.

It was a performance of youthful attacking ingenuity that will have got the other contenders at this World Cup sitting up and taking note.

It should also have quietened the growing dissent aimed at manager Gareth Southgate, who for all he had accomplished in taking England to the semi-finals of the last World Cup and within a penalty shootout of winning last summer’s European Championships, had come under fire for not being attacking enough and not winning any of the previous six Nations League games.

Who cares about the latter, quite frankly? Has Southgate not done enough to convince you yet he knows what he’s doing when it comes to tournament football?

And did Monday’s performance against Iran, when the handbrake was well and truly taken off, not convince you that Southgate has faith in his vibrant young attackers?

Time will tell of course.

Tougher tests await England against the United States on Friday and Wales next Tuesday before the significance of this impressive opener can be measured.

Away from England’s eye-catching introduction to the tournament, tough questions need to continue to be asked of the authorities.

Twelve years in the making, and with technology as it is now, fans really should not be missing the start of a game after reports from outside the ground that some supporters were frantically refreshing the official ticketing mobile app on their phones in a bid to have their QR code load.

It will have caused some to miss the drama of the opening minutes when Iran goalkeeper Ali Beiranvand collided with team-mate Majid Hosseini.

Despite concussion in football and across sport being a major talking point, Beiranvand was allowed to play on despite the clash of heads leaving him with a bloodied nose and clearly disorientated.

Sanity eventually prevailed moments after play was restarted when Beiranvand was removed but that was about eight minutes too late, and yet another bad look for a sport scoring own goals as frequently as Bellingham rampaged forward.

There was even time for a dodgy VAR decision that handed Iran a second consolation goal via the penalty spot deep into stoppage time. But that wasn’t all.

Prior to the game England were told captain Kane and counterparts like Wales’ Gareth Bale could be booked for wearing the rainbow-coloured One Love armband, because it is not a FIFA-approved piece of kit.

That stopped a peaceful protest in its tracks, but there was still time for an act of defiance from Iran.

Loud whistles greeted the playing of the Iranian anthem, with the whole Iran team opting not to sing in a powerful and significant move against the oppressive regime in their homeland.

Plenty of controversy still then, but at least a free-flowing, exciting England performance to chew over as well.