England 4-2 Croatia

England goals: Kane (12 pen, 42), Bellingham (47), Rashford (85) Croatia goals: Baturina (36), Musa (45+5)

England won their opening FIFA World Cup™ fixture for the third tournament running thanks to a brilliant brace from Harry Kane and second-half goals by Jude Bellingham and substitute Marcus Rashford.

A chaotic first half brought four goals, with England twice leading through two Kane strikes and Croatia responding through Martin Baturina and Petar Musa.

The Three Lions had scored an early set-piece in the teams’ 2018 World Cup semi-final encounter but lost; this time they prevailed thanks to a strong second-half display rewarded by goals at either end of it by Bellingham and Rashford.

The match began with a twice-taken penalty after winger Noni Madueke, one of England’s World Cup newcomers, had drawn a foul from Luka Modric. Kane had missed a spot-kick on his previous World Cup appearance, the 2022 quarter-final against France, and Dominik Livakovic saved his initial kick to his left.

However, referee Clement Turpin called for a retake with replays showing Croatia’s goalkeeper had stepped off his line and defender Josko Gvardiol’s encroachment. Kane shot into the same corner and this time found the net. With his second goal, a header from Declan Rice’s corner, Kane equalled Gary Lineker’s England record of 10 World Cup goals.

Each Kane goal was followed by a terrific Croatia equaliser. For 1-1, Petar Sucic laid the ball back to Baturina who curled it into the right-hand corner via the palm of Jordan Pickford. The second equaliser, on the stroke of half-time, came when Croatia’s Dallas-based striker Musa volleyed in a well-worked goal after Ivan Perisic had cleverly nodded on Mario Pasalic’s ball over the back line.

Bellingham, given the No10 role ahead of Morgan Rogers, restored the advantage by driving in from the right wing and finishing low across Livakovic. It was the cue for a dominant spell by England who summoned the intensity coach Thomas Tuchel had asked for, forcing a string of saves by Livakovic. He was eventually beaten again, though, with Rashford's composed finish after excellent work by fellow substitute Bukayo Saka.

Key stat

Harry Kane has now scored the most penalties (excluding shootouts) in World Cup history, with five.

Michelob Ultra Superior Player of the Match

Harry Kane (England)

What they said ...

"Good reaction, the first half was a bit complicated for us. It was a bit nervy. The decisions we took, we chose to go safe and go backwards. We struggled to find any rhythm and didn't have the confidence to go through the gaps. I saw a statistic of 33% of ground duels won in the first half and 73% in the second, so even off the ball was not good enough, not committed enough. I loved the reaction of the players in the second half. It was emotional; there were a lot of emotions involved. It took us a while to get going." Thomas Tuchel, England coach, speaking to ITV

"Credit to the manager, the manager gave us a speech at half-time as if to say, ‘Look, if we lose, we lose in our way’ and you saw that with how we came out in the second half. We went full gas and they couldn’t deal with it and that’s the level we have to set for every game so credit to everyone – the first game of the tournament, a great result against a top side … Just the intensity we went at, that’s our biggest strength so we’re going to have to use that more in this tournament.” Harry Kane, England captain, speaking to ITV

“We played a very bad second half. In the first half, we conceded two goals from two set pieces, the first after a penalty. We didn’t do some things well. We conceded the third goal after a long ball and saw how difficult it was to come back into the game. We reacted poorly to the deep ball and rotated poorly.” Zlatko Dalic, Croatia coach, speaking to HRT