When two renowned European teams face off, the match can be boring or extremely entertaining, in this case it was the latter. In a frantic encounter, England debuted in Group L of the 2026 World Cup with a 4-2 victory over Croatia.
As anticipated beforehand, the match would start evenly, with both teams going back and forth between areas; however, the English would manage to score early. At 8, after a corner, Luka Modrić would commit a childish penalty on Noni Madueke in his attempt to clear the ball. The one in charge from the 12 yards would be Harry Kane, whose shot would be saved by Dominik Livaković, but his execution would be repeated due to a slight advance by the Croatian goalkeeper, thus having a second chance that he would not waste to make it 1-0.
As a result of the momentum from the goal, the team led by Thomas Tuchel would begin to position themselves as the protagonists of the match, generating more and better opportunities than their rival, especially on the counter, although without much accuracy.
On the other hand, the team commanded by Zlatko Dalić, who achieved a runner-up and a third place with his team in the last two World Cups, would seek to take advantage of the chances they had to equalize the score, and after quite a wait, it would finally come. At 35, Petar Sučić would receive the ball in the area and, instead of shooting at goal, would pass back to where Martin Baturina was, who would take a powerful right-footed shot from outside the area to make it 1-1.
Despite the blow, England would quickly recover at 41: Declan Rice would center a corner kick to the heart of the area that would fall to Kane, who with a header would sign his personal double and the second for his team.
When it seemed they were resigned to going into halftime, in the last added minute of the first half, Croatia would once again reach the equalizer: Mario Pašalić would send a floated pass to a barely onside Ivan Perisic, who with a header would leave the ball for a Petar Musa alone who would beat goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
As soon as the second half began, the Three Lions would shift into fifth gear and take the lead again. At 46, Jude Bellingham would break down the right and cross his shot past Livaković for the 3-2.
And the English surge would not end there, as in the next ten minutes they would not stop pressuring their opponent, who would largely be saved by the excellent saves of their goalkeeper, who would become one of the standout figures of the match, and a bit of luck.
After really struggling for a prolonged stretch of the match, the Croatian team would manage to calm things down and would return to having their own chances to level the score once again. In that context, shortly after the second cooling break, they would come close to the third with a dangerous shot from the substitute Marco Pašalić that Pickford would save.
Although the Vatreni were not suffering as before, that did not necessarily mean they would not endure some promising approaches from the English, and one of these would end in the 4-2. At 85, on a counter, the ball would fall to Bukayo Saka, who would assist Marcus Rashford, who, after seeing his marker Josip Stanišić pass in front of him, would open his right foot to score the final goal of a spectacular match.
After this victory, England will try to secure their qualification for the next phase against Ghana next Tuesday, June 23 at the Gillette Stadium in Boston. Meanwhile, Croatia will seek to get back on track against Panama the same day at BMO Field in Toronto.
