Harry Kane Rewrites England's World Cup History in a 4-2 Thriller
Harry Kane's double, a penalty do-over, four lead changes, and a halftime reset: England's World Cup opener had everything.
It wasn't pretty. It wasn't comfortable. And for long stretches, it looked like England might be setting up for another heartbreak. But when the final whistle blew in Dallas on Wednesday night, the Three Lions had delivered one of the most chaotic, nerve-shredding, ultimately thrilling wins in recent World Cup memory, beating Croatia 4-2 in a knockout-round opener that refused to sit still for 90-plus minutes.
The match's defining weirdness arrived before it had even found its footing.
In just the 12th minute, Kane stepped up to the spot, fired --- and was saved. But referee Clément Turpin immediately halted the celebration: Croatia's Dominik Livaković had come off his line early, and Joško Gvardiol had encroached into the area. Retake. Same spot, same Kane, different outcome. He went the same way and found the bottom right corner with no doubt. England up, Croatia stunned - and the tone for the entire match was set.
Because Croatia didn't crumble. On 36 minutes, Luka Sucic outfoxed John Stones on the right before playing it back to Martin Baturina, who unleashed a stunner into Jordan Pickford's top left corner. Level. England rattled. Then Kane, again -- heading in Declan Rice's corner to restore the lead. Then Croatia, again -- Petar Musa pulling Croatia level in first-half stoppage time, finishing a well-worked move. Two-two at the break, after a half that felt like three matches compressed into 45 minutes.
The halftime speech, by all accounts, changed everything. Kane credited Tuchel directly: "The manager gave us a speech at halftime, just to say if we lose we lose, but we lose in our way."
They came out a different team. Just two minutes into the second half, Jude Bellingham drove down the right, into the box, and fired into the far corner to put England ahead for the third time in the match. This time, they didn't let it go. Marcus Rashford came off the bench to seal it with England's fourth in the 85th minute, finishing off a Croatia side that simply had nothing left.
The storyline beneath the chaos, though, belongs to Kane. The 32-year-old has now scored 10 World Cup goals for England, tying Gary Lineker's record set across the 1986 and 1990 tournaments. He also became only the second Englishman — after David Beckham — to score in three different World Cups.
England top Group L, with Ghana up next on Tuesday.