England thumped Croatia 4-2 last night as Thomas Tuchel’s side kicked off their World Cup campaign with aplomb.
The Three Lions took the lead twice in the first half, both thanks to Harry Kane, but found themslves pegged back as many times through goals from Martin Baturina and Petar Musa.
Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford’s second-half strikes were enough for England to pick up all three points in Group L and see off who many tipped to be their toughest early challengers.
They weathered a double Croatian set-back to dominate the second half, with plenty of positives to take from their opening performance.
Jude Bellingham’s second-half goal helped England win their opening World Cup game
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England started the contest with the lion’s share of possession – at points, it seemed like everyone in white was keen to get a touch on the ball.
Then, they turned the heat up, pushing the ball deeper and deeper into Croatia’s half and causing problems.
Noni Madueke, a surprise selection by Thomas Tuchel, beat Luka Modric to the ball and was brought down inside the area for an early penalty.
Kane then stepped up, but brought back painful echoes of France in 2022 as he spurned the chance to put England in front.
Then, a reprieve: Josko Gvardiol was spotted encroaching inside the penalty area, and Dominik Livakovic stepped off his line.
Harry Kane got a brace for England in the first half
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The Bayern Munich man buried his second attempt to put England ahead.
On the half-hour mark, it was Madueke again who caused problems after being handed a perfectly-weighted ball to run onto.
The Arsenal winger delivered a wicked ball into Jude Bellingham – though the Real Madrid star couldn’t make contact.
Despite the pressure from the Three Lions, Croatia found a response from Como man Martin Baturina.
The Serie A star was handed the ball on the edge of the penalty area and hit a brilliant right-footed strike into the top-left corner past Jordan Pickford.
Thomas Tuchel has got off to a winning start in the World Cup
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His celebrations were short-lived, though, as captain Kane stepped up once again, rising to meet one of Declan Rice’s world-class corners to head home past Livakovic.
Kane’s effort was enough to see the Croats off just before half-time – or so the Three Lions faithful thought.
Just seven minutes later, Croatia were laughing again as Petar Musa slotted past Pickford.
The two sides headed in at half-time all square.
But one fiery Tuchel team-talk later, England came out for the second half like a house on fire, with Bellingham scoring inside the first two minutes.
Noni Madueke and Reece James were a threat for England down the right-hand side
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Kane later revealed how the German told his side to “take the shackles off” at the break.
And Bellingham answered the call.
The global star, still just 22, broke away down the right-hand side and finished superbly into the bottom-left corner.
Livakovic was called into action numerous times at the beginning of the second half, though managed to weather an England peppering without conceding.
Then, tactical changes – with midfield stars Declan Rice and Bellingham shown an early exit to move Reece James inside.
England have got their World Cup campaign off to winning ways
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That paid off. Bukayo Saka raced down the right and found Marcus Rashford with a perfect ball in space.
The Manchester United man, who faces an uncertain future this summer, raced into the box and finished superbly into the bottom-ight corner.
England saw out the six minutes of stoppage time with steel.
And that earned the praise of captain Kane, who now sits just one goal away from becoming England’s standalone World Cup record goalscorer – and two from equalling Pele himself.
“The performance, with and without the ball, was at the highest level. We could have scored three goals in that 20-minute spell (after half-time),” he said.
“Physically, the guys that came on in the final 20 minutes kept the level really high.
“In the end we had too much for a really great team who will go far in the tournaments themselves.”
