England made a massive statement in their World Cup opener, brushing Croatia aside 4-2 thanks to masterclasses from Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham. Photo: IANS
Image: IANS
After Wednesday night's performance against Croatia, English fans must surely believe this is the year football is returning home ... again. But they won't be unfounded, especially after Thomas Tuchel's boys dismantled Croatia 4-2 in what was expected to be one of the toughest opening fixtures of the tournament.
England's attacking prowess, led by Harry Kane and backed up by Marcus Rashford, would have sent a message across the rest of the World Cup groups. Kane was at his clinical best, while Jude Bellingham once again demonstrated why he is regarded as one of the world's finest midfielders.
Rashford's late goal capped off a performance full of confidence and intent. While several of the tournament favourites have stumbled out of the blocks, England have looked every bit a contender.
Argentina were another heavyweight nation that lived up to expectations with a convincing opening victory, but Spain failed to find a breakthrough in a disappointing goalless draw against Cape Verde.
The Netherlands were also unable to overcome Japan, settling for a 2-2 draw, while Brazil were held 1-1 by Morocco despite entering the competition among the favourites. Germany produced the most emphatic scoreline of the tournament so far, thrashing Curaçao 7-1 to establish a six-goal advantage.
However, it is difficult to gauge exactly how impressive that result was given the quality gap between the two sides. Curaçao simply did not provide the sort of challenge that reveals a team's true World Cup credentials.
England, by contrast, faced a dangerous Croatian side packed with experience and quality. Despite conceding twice, they still found another gear when it mattered most and comfortably pulled away in the second half.
The Croatians did expose weaknesses in England's defence, something that could become problematic in the knockout stages against elite opposition. For now, though, no team has combined quality and attacking flair against a tough opponent quite like England.
Jehran Naidoo is sports reporter for Independent Media and social media coordinator of the our YouTube channel The Clutch