England began their quest to end 60 years of hurt with a statement of breathtaking intent, but not before Croatia made them sweat every drop in a pulsating 4-2 thriller at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Harry Kane's first-half brace, Jude Bellingham's brilliant opener to the second half, and a Marcus Rashford sealer gave Thomas Tuchel's Three Lions three points and top spot in Group L but the scoreline flatters England's defensive showing on a night of edge-of-the-seat drama.
Kane drew first blood in the 12th minute, converting from the spot after Livakovic was penalised for moving off his line on the goalkeeper's initial save, a nerve-wracking moment that the England captain handled with characteristic ice. Croatia, however, refused to be bullied. Petar Sucic threaded a sublime ball into the path of Martin Baturina on the half-hour, and the Como midfielder did the rest as he arrows a ferocious long-range strike past Jordan Pickford to level and send the Croatian faithful into raptures.
England reclaimed the lead almost instantly. Declan Rice whipped in a precise corner, and Kane, arriving on cue at the far post - met it with a thumping downward header to make it 2-1 with just two minutes to halftime. But Tuchel's men switched off at the worst possible moment. A flowing Croatian move saw Mario Pasalic clip a delicious ball over the top for Ivan Perisic, who cushioned it expertly into the run of Petar Musa. The striker, playing in front of his adoptive home crowd in Dallas, volleyed it clinically past Pickford in the fifth minute of stoppage time to stun the stadium into stunned silence.
The second half was all England. Bellingham, deployed in his preferred free role behind Kane latched on to a pinpoint pass from the impressive Elliot Anderson barely 120 seconds after the restart, drove relentlessly into the box, and kissed a composed finish off the far post to restore the lead. It was a goal of predatory brilliance that immediately took the wind out of Croatia's sails. With Modric, making a record 199th international appearance and substituted off in the 57th minute, Croatia's creativity dried up.
Rashford, introduced off the bench with 20 minutes remaining, delivered the knockout blow in the 85th minute as he collected a perfectly-weighted Saka pass, sitting his defender down with an effortless feint, and rolling a composed finish into the bottom right corner. England go top of Group L.
England next face Ghana on June 22 in the matchday 2 of Group L and Croatia take on Panama on the same day.
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