We Kane do it! England beat Croatia 4-2 in thrilling 2026 World Cup opener
England got off to a storming start in the 2026 World Cup with a 4-2 victory over Croatia.
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Harry Kane started the scoring with a penalty in the twelfth minute, which had to be re-taken, before netting a second just before half time.
But Croatia managed to bring things level just before the break, with a goal from Baturina in the 36th minute before another from Musa in added time.
At the start of the second half, England came out with an electric passage of play, and a goal from Bellingham almost immediately after the break put England 3-2 up.
Marcus Rashford then netted England’s fourth goal in the 85th minute.
England face Ghana on June 23 and Panama on June 27.
It was clear management weren’t happy with the side’s performance in the first half. Thomas Tuchel’s assistant Anthony Barry delivered a highly critical verdict of the team who he said had showed ‘fearful’ patterns of play.
“Overall, a complicated and confusing first half from us really,” Barry said at half time.
“I think a lot of nervous energy early on and maybe that should be accepted and maybe expected in the opening game of a World Cup. From there we made some decisions where the energy was not free in our mind.
“We played long when we should play short and played short when we should play long really. Not playing through the gaps, so not allowing us to accelerate our game the way we wanted to.
“You’d think the penalty would free us up and allow us to play more like us and look more like ourselves, but again we fall back into some fearful patterns.
“Yeah, we’ve always been able to rely on set-pieces. We get the second goal and again we’re hoping that’s the moment to free us up and move forward in the game, but OK, we concede the second goal late on.”
But the team turned it around and came out a different side entirely after the break.
Jude Bellingham slammed the Euro 2024 runners-up back ahead within two minutes of the restart.
Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic’s inspired display frustrated England as they launched a barrage of attacks, but substitute Marcus Rashford would add another late on giving England a well-deserved victory.