England were impressive, defeating Croatia 4-2 in Dallas, in the most important match of the first round of the 2026 World Cup. A huge victory for Thomas Tuchel’s team which – in all likelihood – will also mean first place in the 12th group of the competition, where Ghana and Panama also participate.

A football feast in the first half, with England taking the lead twice and Croatia finding the corresponding answers. In the 12th minute, Harry Kane opened the scoring with a penalty, while in the 36th minute, Martin Baturina, with a wonderful placement outside the area, equaled with the best goal of the first matchday. In the 42nd minute, after a corner from Rice, Kane headed home the 2-1, reaching 10 goals for England in a World Cup, the same as the legendary Gary Lineker. And while everything indicated that the “Three Lions” would go into the locker room with a lead, in the halftime stoppage time (45+5′) Perisic made a “magical” assist with his head to Musa and the FC Dallas striker equalized, on a pitch he knows very well.

At the start of the second half, Jude Bellingham received Anderson’s long ball and with personal action gave the English the lead again. Croatia tried to find solutions, but Pickford was “present”, while Marcus Rashford made the final 4-2 in the 85th minute, “locked” the victory and essentially cleared the qualification to the “32” from the first 90 minutes of the competition.

Referee: Clement Turpin (France)
Yellow cards: 

The compositions of the teams:

ENGLAND (Thomas Tuchel): Pickford, James, Stones (87′ Gay), Konsa, O’Reilly, Anderson, Rice (72′ Rodgers), Mandweke (72′ Rashford), Bellingham (80′ Spence), Gordon (72′ Saka), Kane

CROATIA (Zlatko Dalic): Livakovic, Sutalo, Vuskovic (66′ Marko Pasalic), Guardiola, Stanisic, Modric (58′ Kovacic), Susic, Perisic, Mario Pasalic (78′ Kramaric), Baturina (78′ Vlasic), Musa (66′ Matanovic)