England won their opening World Cup group match 4-2 against Croatia on June 17 at Dallas Stadium in the USA before a crowd of about 70,389 spectators [1, 2, 3]. Harry Kane opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a penalty following a retake caused by the goalkeeper moving off his line [4, 1, 2, 3]. Kane added a second goal in the 42nd minute with a header from a Declan Rice corner kick, putting England 2-1 ahead [4, 1, 2, 3].
Croatia responded with two equalizers in the first half. Martin Baturina scored a long-range goal in the 36th minute, and Petar Musa scored just before halftime to level the match 2-2 [4, 1, 2, 3]. Early in the second half, Jude Bellingham netted England's third goal in the 47th minute, assisted by Elliot Anderson [5, 4, 1, 2, 3, 6]. This marked Bellingham's 50th appearance for England [4, 1, 2, 3].
Marcus Rashford, who entered the game as a substitute, scored the fourth and final goal in the 85th minute to seal the victory for England [7, 4, 1, 2, 3]. Kane also equalled Gary Lineker’s record of 10 World Cup goals during the match [4, 1, 2, 3]. England is coached by Thomas Tuchel [5, 4, 1, 8, 2].
Bellingham said he focused on the team amid external distractions: "For me personally, it was nice to put some of the noise aside and just show my country and my team-mates how committed I am to help us try to win football matches," he said [8]. Kane praised the coach’s halftime talk following the second conceded goal [2].
England will continue its World Cup campaign with the next group stage match scheduled later in the tournament.
