England opened their 2026 World Cup campaign with a 4-2 victory over Croatia inside the air-conditioned Dallas Stadium. Harry Kane scored twice in the first half to equal a historic national record, while Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford secured the Group L win to ease early pressure on manager Thomas Tuchel.
The match delivered a chaotic opening 45 minutes, echoing the tension of the nations’ 2018 semi-final clash. Kane converted a retaken penalty in the 12th minute, but Croatia quickly struck back through Martin Baturina. England’s defensive pairing of John Stones and Ezri Konsa looked vulnerable early on against the counterattack. Kane restored the lead with a 42nd-minute header off a Declan Rice corner, only for Petar Musa to level the score again deep into first-half stoppage time.
Tuchel opted against a fiery halftime team talk, trusting his squad to reset without interference. The strategy paid off almost instantly. Bellingham drilled a swift strike into the net just two minutes after the restart, shifting the momentum permanently in England’s favor. Rashford then came off the bench to ice the game in the 85th minute.
By securing his first-half brace, Kane officially reached 10 career World Cup goals, matching Gary Lineker’s all-time record for an English player. The captain also extended his tournament record to five non-shootout penalty conversions. On the opposing touchline, Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic openly criticized his team’s collapse. “We played a very bad second half,” Dalic told reporters, according to Al Jazeera. “We conceded the third goal after a long ball and saw how difficult it was to come back.”