Harry Kane scored twice as England kicked-off their FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign with a thrilling 4-2 win over Croatia at the Dallas Stadium.
Having waited patiently to make their entrance in Group L, Thomas Tuchel's men played out a cracker of a game, with the England skipper opening the scoring from the penalty spot before grabbing his second late in the first half.
Still, England were twice pegged back in the opening 45 minutes, before Jude Bellingham's strike immediately after half time restored their advantage.
Dominik Livakovic performed heroics to keep England out after the third goal as England looked to turn the screw but five minutes from time, Marcus Rashford came off the bench to make it four and allow England fans a sigh of relief.
England's first real threat came when Noni Madueke made inroads down the right, and after the ball found its way to Kane in the box, he took advantage of an inch of space to shoot on the turn, with his effort deflected wide.
From the ensuing corner, Madueke reacted quickest to a bouncing ball, nipping in ahead of Luka Modric before the Croatian skipper brought him down while trying to clear.
Kane stepped up and had his initial penalty effort saved by Dominik Livakovic, but an encroachment from Josko Gvardiol saw the spot-kick retaken. Given a second attempt, Kane fired low to the same corner, opening the scoring on 12 minutes.
Petar Musa showed that Croatia could prove dangerous, when he almost found some space in the England box, but Bellingham did well to get back and force a goal kick.
Croatia's equaliser came somewhat against the run of play, a brilliant right-footed finish from Martin Baturina that Jordan Pickford could only get a fingertip to after an acrobatic dive.
But just as it seemed England would go into half time with a lead, Croatia equalised for the second time.
Deep in stoppage time, Ivan Perisic found some space and knocked it to Musa, who slotted it home to make it 2-2 at the break.
England came out in the second half as a team transformed, taking the lead for the third time within two minutes of the restart.
Bellingham found space down the right and had no hesitation as he drove into box before shooting into the far corner past Livakovic.
Rice drove forward and tried to bend the ball home, his shot a little too central to trouble the keeper, who then made a remarkable triple save, the pick of which was a strong hand to keep out an O'Reilly header.
It was all England at this stage, with Kane next to threaten as Livakovic had to get down low to deny him.
But while they had not pulled clear, Croatia remained dangerous, with Pickford forced into a vital save 15 minutes from time from Marco Pasalic's shot at goal.
Djed Spence was introduced for Bellingham and almost matched the man he had replaced, making a brilliant run onto a ball on the right, with Livakovic again on hand to keep England out.
But he had no answer when Rashford was found in space and cut inside the final defender before sliding the ball home to make the game safe.
England: 1 Jordan Pickford; 24 Reece James, 2 Ezri Konsa, 5 John Stones, 3 Nico O'Reilly; 4 Declan Rice, 8 Elliot Anderson; 20 Noni Madueke, 10 Jude Bellingham, 18 Anthony Gordon; 9 Harry Kane
Substitutes: 17 Morgan Rogers for Rice 72', 7 Bukayo Saka for Gordon 72', 11 Marcus Rashford for Madueke 72', 25 Djed Spence for Bellingham 80', 6 Marc Guehi for Stones 87'
Subs not used: 13 Dean Henderson, 23 James Trafford, 15 Dan Burn, 26 Jarell Quansah, 14 Jordan Henderson, 16 Kobbie Mainoo, 21 Eberechi Eze, 19 Ollie Watkins, 22 Ivan Toney
Head Coach: Thomas Tuchel
Goals: Kane 12 (pen)', 42', Bellingham 47', Rashford 85'
Croatia: 1 Dominik Livakovic; 2 Josip Stanisic, 4 Josko Gvardiol, 6 Josip Sutalo, 22 Luka Vuskovic; 10 Luka Modric, 15 Mario Pasalic, 16 Martin Baturina, 17 Petar Sucic; 14 Ivan Perisic, 26 Petar Musa
Substitutes: 8 Mateo Kovacic for Modric 58', 20 Igor Matanovic for Vuskovic 66', 24 Marco Pasalic for Musa 66', 13 Nikola Vlasic for Baturina 79', 9 Andrej Kramaric for Mario Pasalic 79'
Subs not used: 12 Ivor Pandur, 23 Dominik Kotarski, 3 Marin Pongracic, 5 Duje Caleta-Car, 18 Kristijan Jakic, 25 Martin Erlic, 7 Nikola Moro, 19 Toni Fruk, 21 Luka Sucic, 11 Ante Budimir
Head Coach: Zlatko Dalic
Goals: Baturina 36', Musa 45+5'
