4 Takeaways From England's World Cup Win Over Croatia
For 45 minutes, this had the makings of another England worry festtwo leads surrendered, two soft goals conceded, the old ghosts stirring. Then Thomas Tuchel gave the team the right motivation at the half. England stopped being generous, and the game tilted in their favor for good. The 4-2 scoreline at Dallas Stadium undersells how one-sided the second half became. Harry Kane has a brace. Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford supplied the rest. Croatia hung around, then got buried. Here are my takeaways from England's World Cup opener win. 1. Harry Kane Is the Most Complete Striker on the Planet Two more goals, of course. A retaken penalty he buried without blinking, then a textbook finish off a Declan Rice delivery. A brace in a World Cup opener from a man who treats scoring like a chore he's contractually obligated to complete. The Bayern Munich numbers have stopped being numbers and started being satire: 36 Bundesliga goals this season a third straight Golden Boot, the most in Europe's top five leagues and 58 in all competitions. He is, right now, the most clinical finisher alive. But the finishing isn't even the best part. Watch where he operates. Kane spent long spells dropping into midfield, spraying passes, setting tempo, springing Bellingham into space. A No. 9 who is also your best No. 10. That's not a striker. That's a two for one deal that England simply cannot live without. 2. Getting Forward Was Absurdly Easy The xG told one story; the eye test told a louder one. England piled up 22 shots, 11 of them on target. The only reason this wasn't a rout was Croatia keeper Dominik Livakovi, who at one point produced a save-rebound-save scramble to deny Nico O'Reilly, then Anthony Gordon, then Ezri Konsa in the span of seconds. The width was relentless Noni Madueke constantly pushing on the right, and Gordon stretching on the left making the middle of the field worse for Croatia because that's where Jude Bellingham lives. Time and again he collected the ball, drove through the lines and arrived in the box, finishing the third himself and combining slickly with Rice, Kane and Elliot Anderson. When England clicks going forward, few teams on earth create chances this cleanly. This was a genuinely excellent attacking performance. 3. Croatia Won't Reach a Final Like in 2018 But They're Far From Done Let's be honest: the 2018 magic isn't walking back through that door. This Croatia squad won't grind its way to a World Cup final on penalties and sheer stubbornness like it did in Russia. The legs aren't quite there. But write them off at your peril. Luka Modri, 40 and playing his fifth World Cup, didn't have a vintage performance and gave up a penalty, but still moves around like he's 10 years younger. Around the veterans Perii, Kovai sits a genuinely exciting next wave. Como's Martin Baturina announced himself with a thunderbolt of an equalizer. Petar Sui is a complete box-to-box midfielder coming through the ranks. Josip Stanii is a Champions League regular at Leverkusen. The quality is still there, but Croatia's first test happened to be against one of the best five nations at the World Cup. Croatia conceded four and still looked like a team that won't be fun to draw, assuming they advance from this group. That blend of veteran savvy and youth should cause problems to the middle of the pack. 4. The One Thing That Should Keep Tuchel Up at Night Here's the catch on an otherwise glowing day: England fell asleep defensively. Twice in the first half they took the lead, and twice they switched off in midfield the Musa equalizer came straight from a snooze, Perii slipping behind the line and heading it back for the first-time finish through Pickford's legs. There's a pattern here that predates this match: England get ahead, get comfortable, and invite pressure they never needed to. Against Croatia they simply had the firepower to outscore the problem. Against a France or a Spain in a knockout, they won't. The talent is overwhelming the bench alone coughed up Rashford's curler. Tuchel's job isn't adding more attack. It's convincing this team that a two-goal lead is a reason to step on a throat, not ease off it.
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