Thomas Tuchel was the latest man in the Three Lions hotseat at a major tournament, embarking on what he hopes will be the first match en route to securing a first senior men’s trophy in 60 years.
After leading Croatia to the last four in each of the previous two WCs, Zlatko Dalić’s men were ready to embrace their dark horses tag and were eager to exploit England’s nervousness in the opening exchanges.
However, referee Clément Turpin pointed to the spot down the other end after Luka Modrić brought down Noni Madueke in the box.
Dominik Livaković saved Harry Kane’s initial attempt from 12 yards, but the Three Lions skipper earned a reprieve after the Croatian shot-stopper moved too early off his line and Joško Gvardiol was penalised for encroachment.
Kane made no mistake at the second time of asking to mark his record-breaking 30th England appearance at a major tournament in typical goalscoring fashion.
Croatia responded emphatically when Martin Baturina unleashed a superb right-footed strike past Jordan Pickford, before Kane scored again to equal Gary Lineker’s record of 10 England WC goals with a superb header from Declan Rice’s corner.
But Tuchel’s team continued to look vulnerable at the back, and Petar Musa coolly slotted home past Pickford from Ivan Perišić’s headed knockdown with almost the last kick of the half.
The second Croatia equaliser clearly irked the Three Lions, and they responded within two minutes of the restart through Jude Bellingham.
He marked becoming the youngest European player to appear in four different major tournaments with a fine finish from a tight angle after latching onto Elliot Anderson’s perfectly-weighted ball down the right-hand side.
A combination of some wasteful finishing and superb goalkeeping from Livaković kept the Croatian deficit at one, as Nico O’Reilly headed wide at the far post from Rice’s corner.
Livaković then made several more stops to deny Rice, O’Reilly, and Anthony Gordon, with England hammering on the door in search of a potentially decisive fourth goal.
They initially failed to translate that momentum into another goal though, and Pickford was called into action to parry away Marco Pašalić’s close-range strike after he had exploited those familiar English defensive frailties.
But those nerves were effectively diminished when two substitutes combined to seal all three points.
Bukayo Saka made a darting run in from the right and laid the ball on a plate for Marcus Rashford to cut inside and calmly place his shot past Livaković.
It capped off an ideal start to the competition for England, who have only lost one of their opening nine games at the finals (W5, D3), while Dalić’s side go back to the drawing board after a fifth defeat in seven H2Hs.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Harry Kane (England)
