What a start for England in this World Cup ah . A big 4-2 win against Croatia in their very first match is not small thing .
UK's Prime Minister Keir Starmer also seemed very happy with the result . He posted on X,saying "A fantastic result against Croatia and a performance to be proud of. On to the next one!" Which is exactly what all fans are feeling rn .
And honestly,this was a very solid performance. England looked in control for most of the game.
The match was held on June 17 at Dallas Stadium in Texas,and captain Harry Kane was just on another level . He scored two goals,which really set the tone for the team. First one was penalty kick. Initially,the Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic saved it,but then VAR intervened and Kane got to retake it . And this time he scored only.
But Croatia didn't just give up . They managed to score equalizer through Martin Baturina,which made things tense for a bit . But England took back control pretty quickly .
Kane scored his second goal just before halftime,and then later substitute Marcus Rashford added another one to seal the victory . Croatia did put pressure at times,but it just wasn't enough .
Few interesting records were made in this match:
- With his two goals,Harry Kane is now only the second England player to score in three different World Cups,joining David Beckham.
- Jude Bellingham became youngest European player ever to play in four major tournaments.
- Kane also now has record for most non-shootout penalties in World Cup history,with five.
England's manager,Thomas Tuchel,also sounded optimistic about the team's chances going forward . He talked about their strong second-half performance and how the mix of experienced players and young talents like Bellingham is working well.
And tbh,this kind of start is exactly what they needed to build momentum. The next match is against Ghana on June 23.
Now everyone is just waiting to see if they can carry this performance forward . One good match is one thing… but to do it consistently throughout tournament is the real challenge…
