England got their World Cup campaign off to a winning start in chaotic fashion after a Harry Kane brace powered Thomas Tuchel's side to a 4-2 win over Croatia.
The 32-year-old opened the scoring from the spot in the 12th minute having been given a reprieve for an initially saved effort -- as an encroachment allowed him to make no mistake second time round. Croatia got level through a superb Martin Baturina strike, but Kane restored the English advantage from a corner.
And while Petar Musa breached the back line to slot home to send Croatia into the break level, it was Jude Bellingham's solo effort, in off the post, that rescued the Three Lions just moments after the restart. The rest of the second half was heavily in England's favour without a cutting edge,, before Marcus Rashford sealed the points off the bench with just minutes to play.
By Tuchel's lofty standards, the performance will leave plenty to be dissected back in Kansas, particularly at the back -- but the side's greatest ever goalscorer finding a brace will prove to be one potential worry crossed off his list.
Kane, who took his total for the season to 69 goals after a remarkable campaign at club level, moved to 17 in major international tournaments -- and levelled Gary Lineker's 10 World Cup goals for his country.
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England's finisher-in-chief delivers again
Before this World Cup, plenty of the conversation has been dominated by a simple talking point in attack -- how can the best be brought out of Kane?
On this occasion, all that was needed was Noni Madueke to draw a foul off Luka Modric in the area, and for a corner routine to be executed perfectly across the board.
Kane's brilliance lies in how ruthlessly efficient he is, as demonstrated at Bayern Munich this season -- and it might just be the year he can re-produce it in a deep World Cup run with England. The first of his spot-kicks was poor, with a lack of conviction when Croatia keeper Dominik Livaković called his bluff -- only for referee Clément Turpin to immediately signal for it to be retaken. Livaković was off his line -- the goalkeeper not helped by Kane's stutter -- while Joško Gvardiol had also encroached into the area. When given a second opportunity, Kane went the same way, and this time found the bottom right corner with no doubt.
And with his side pegged back, he delivered once again. Lots has been said about corners the season just gone, and he combined with Arsenal's Declan Rice to restore the English advantage. Creeping backwards to escape the Croatian defenders (who did not rectify the lack of cover) he got on the end of the outswinging delivery and leave Livaković with little chance.
He became only the second player to score for England at three different FIFA World Cups -- following David Beckham in 1998-2006. At World Cups and European Championships, only Cristiano Ronaldo (22), Miroslav Klose (19) and Gerd Müller (18) have more than him -- and this tournament is still, hopefully for England, very young.
Any doubt about his status as a complete centre-forward vanished long ago, but it was exemplified in his late block from a Croatian corner, as Josko Gvardiol found space at the back post. Despite a two-goal advantage with 90 seconds left, Kane timed a brave block to deny the full-back with his chest at point-blank range. It impressed one of the greats in his position, Zlatan Ibrahimović, who said on Fox: "When you see a top player defend like he does, that's the sacrifice. He wants to win. He's prepared to do the things that a star would not do."
Two goals conceded, two reasons for potential Tuchel ire
Tuchel is not the kind of manager to let two goals conceded slide on account of his side winning, even looking comfortable by the end of the match.
The 2018 finalists -- who beat England to reach that match in Russia -- got level on the 36 minute mark after Luka Sucic outfoxed John Stones on the right, before playing it back to Como's Martin Baturina, who unleashed a stunner into Jordan Pickford's top left corner.
The nature of Croatia's second is what will frustrate the German -- coming just eight minutes after it looked certain Kane would send England into the dressing room in front.
Musa was on the spot to finish after Ivan Perisic, who was just onside, was played in behind with a simple ball over the top. The Croatians did not create such a 'route one' opportunity to stare down Pickford in the second half, as the Stones - Ezri Konsa partnership looked steadier.
Stones was taken off for Marc Guéhi just minutes from time, a player who will be keen to pitch his suitability to start as the tournament goes on. There is little time for experimenting in a World Cup, but victory against Ghana on June 23 would see England through before they take on Panama on June 27.
Team lineups
England: Pickford, James, Stones (Guehi 87'), Konsa, O'Reilly, Rice (Rogers 72') Anderson, Bellingham (Spence 80'), Madueke (Saka 72'), Gordon (Rashford 72'), Kane
Ununsed substitutes: Henderson, Trafford, Burn, Quansah, Henderson, Mainoo, Eze, Watkins, Toney
Goals: Kane (12' pen., 42'), Bellingham (47'), Rashford (85')
Croatia: Livaković, Stanišić, Vušković (M. Pašalić 66'), Gvardiol, Šutalo, Modrić (Kovačić 58'), Sučić, Pašalić (Kramarić 79'), Baturina (Vlašić 78'), Perišić, Musa (Matanović 66')
Unused substitutes: Pandur, Kotarski, Pongračić, Ćaleta-Car, Jakić, Erlić, Moro, Fruk, Sučić, Budimir
Goals: Baturina (36'), Musa (45')
Snapshot from the match
Key stats
- Harry Kane: 10 career goals in FIFA World Cup, tying with Gary Lineker for most by an English player
- Jude Bellingham: Third player to score in 2 different men's FIFA World Cup under the age of 23, joining Brazil's Pelé (1958, 1962) and England's Michael Owen (1998, 2002)
- England: Five wins, three draws and a defeat in their last nine FIFA World Cup openers, lone loss was vs Italy in 2014 (2-1)
- Croatia: Loses six-game unbeaten streak in World Cup group stage matches, first such loss since 2014 vs Mexico (3-1) -
- Luka Modric: 199th career appearance for Croatia; With his next game, he will join Cristiano Ronaldo (229), Bader Ahmed Al-Mutawa (202) and Lionel Messi (200) as the only players with 200+ international appearances.
Information from ESPN Global Research contributed to this report.