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Good second half, good reaction. First half was complicated, we made nervy decisions, chose to go safe and safe, go backwards. [We had] no confidence to go through gaps… I have seen a stat that says we won 33 per cent ground duels compared to over 73 in second half so off the ball we were better in the second as well.
We deserved to win it, it was emotional it took us a while to get going but was positive.
Just said even if lose will not change perception of last 17 days so let’s so it our way. We were too focused on result and protecting. [Croatia’s] second goal we had a back seven and still did not defend the goal so we wanted to play the match the way we want to so we encouraged them to go for it
[Bellingham is] a very good player. He deserved to start what he needs to do to fight for his place and keep his place.
I hope they are OK [Rice and Rashford]. I would normally never take Declan out… but I didn’t want to take any risk.
The reaction was excellent and effort enormous. We were not clean enough in first half… we are exhausted but I love exhausted payers in dressing room. That was what we needed today. We can fix everything else tomorrow. Tonight there are only positives.
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First half I thought we were OK. Really disappointed to concede the way we did by dropping off. Credit to the manager who gave us a speech at half-time to say if we lose we lose but we lose in our way. And we came out in the second half, full gas and they couldn’t live with it.
Credit to everyone. First game of the tournament against a tough side.
Without the ball we went a little more aggressive. It’s difficult. They’ve got great players. When Luka [Modric] is dropping in. In the second half we thought if we see a man in front, we go. And we played with the intensity that is our biggest strength. We have to use that more this tournament.
That second half to be sure [is the template]. And once we went ahead [for the third time] we never looked like [conceding] and then we scored on the counter. But we had a spell in the first 20 minutes [of the second half] when we cold have scored three or four.
Three points on the board, great start.
Great goal, great run, great finish – you can see the desire from Jude in training. The competition we have, everyone is high level whoever plays. Jude was itching to get out there.
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It’s been a brilliant tournament so far, and this was the best game yet. In any major competition, you want the top players delivering and we’ve seen that: Mbappé, Messi, Vinicius Jr and now Bellingham and Kane.
England may be the big entertainers of the World Cup. I’m not sure that wins you the tournament, but on this evidence it’s going to be fun watching them try.
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England got their World Cup campaign off to a winning start in Dallas with a 4-2 victory over Croatia.
Harry Kane scored twice to move level with Gary Lineker as England’s highest scorer at the World Cup finals, Jude Bellingham repaid the faith shown in him by Thomas Tuchel with the second-half winner before Marcus Rashford scored their fourth of the evening.
Who impressed and whose starting place for next week’s match with Ghana is at risk? Rate each player with our voting tool, and have your say in the comments.
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England have started their World Cup campaign with a fine second-half performance after a shonky first 45 minutes. A hugely impressive turnaround that mus be a credit to Tuchel and his players. It would have been all too familiar for England to be unable to change their fortunes and meander on chaotically through the second half. But they seized the game by the slack of its pants and dragged it their way.
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Kane throws himself in the line of fire to block Gvardiol’s thumping volley when pouncing on a flick-on from the corner and stops a goal-bound effort. England break from the rebound and Saka swaggers forward, the ball under his immaculate control at high pace. Rashford plays a one-two with him and when he gets it back is shut out by Sutalo.
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Spence tackles Perisic to concede a corner. Guéhi replaced Stones after the fourth goal.
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Kane is penalised for a knowingly clumsy foul.
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The fourth official signals six minutes of stoppage time.
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They used to say, well they did on Minder, that a surefire way to get a greyhound to do its best was to ‘shove mustard up its tuchas’. England certainly had the equivalent at half-time, a transformational Tuchel rocket. They have been so much better.
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England 4 Croatia 2 (Rashford) Fabulous move. Saka hares up the right, plays it to Spence, receives it back and cuts infield to bends a curling pass to Rashford to the left of the penalty spot. Rashford took a touch with his left to wrongfoot Stanisic, sent him off to buy a pint of milk and an Evening News, opened his body then passed the ball into the bottom right.
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England dropping alarmingly deep and cede enough space between midfield and defence to allow Kovacic to burst through to shoot. Mercifully for England he finds precision but no power.
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Livakovic to the rescue again when Spence is set off on a raid upfield from right-back, succumbs to summit fever with his final touch before shooting and the keeper once again pulled off a vital save.
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England have yielded a bit too much possession over the last couple of minutes. Maybe they are trying to draw Croatia on to them and counter-punching.
If we were watching this on Monday Night Football we would be saying, ‘This is a great advert for the Premier League.’ Unless he had an injury, it’s interesting Tuchel substituted Rice. He is not trying to protect the lead. England need another goal.
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ITV reports that there is a suggestion that Rice was limping and that is why he has been replaced. I didn’t see that.
Kramaric comes on for Baturina and Spence for Bellingham with James moving into midfield.
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Marco Pasalic, cuts in from the left and hammers a low shot that Pickford saves well. A moment earlier Stanisic’s weak header almost gives Rashford a chance to run through but Livakovic continues his excellent performance by racing off the line to cover his colleague’s mistake.
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Rogers’ first jinking run takes him into the box where he darts between Perisic and Gvardiol but then finds the ball stuck under his studs as he tried to roll it to Saka.
Tuchel had a very long chat with Bellingham at the latest advertisement – sorry rehydration – break. He then gathered his players into a circle and gave them a full-on team-talk. It seems the England head coach is determined to make the most of the breaks, even if we don’t all like them.
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Anthony Barry might end up being man-of-the-match for his half-time comments. He was spot on. England’s second half has been brilliant – much quicker and with more purpose, although it is still intriguing to me how we are approaching this competition. This is the game of the tournament so far.
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It’s a triple substitution:
Rogers for Rice, Rashford for Gordon and Saka for Madueke. Bellingham drops from 10 to a berth alongside Anderson, I think.
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Madueke floats a cross from the right that Kane nods on to Gordon who smacks a roundhouse right-foot volley into Sutalo’s thigh. Croatia threaten to counter but Bellingham is alert and makes an important tackle to stop them in their tracks.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 17, 20264 - Four of Jude Bellingham's seven England goals have been scored in major tournaments, the highest ratio of any player to score 5+ times for England in history (57%).
Showcase. pic.twitter.com/6pt9KF1MIJ
The final hydration break is called by the referee.
Rogers and Rashford are coming on.
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Jorfan Henderson, Eze, Rogers and Rashford are warming up.
Two subs by Croatia:
Marco Pasalic replaces Vuskovic and Igor Matanovic replaces Musa. That means a switch to a back four.
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Anderson is whacked across the shin by Perisic as he telescoped out his right leg to try to knock the ball away. England free-kick 45 yards out.
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Some American celebrities we’ve never heard of titillate the crowd when shown on the big screen.
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Kane throws his hands to his temples in protest when he is penalised for a trip on Kovacic. Nice but of hamming for the referee but it was a foul.
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Croatia’s goalkeeper has kept them in it. England really do need to strike again while they are enjoying such dominance.
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Five chances are thwarted by Livakovic within a couple of minutes. First a brilliant save from O’Reilly’s bullet header from the corner, then, when sitting on the floor recovering from that, he pats away Gordon’s follow up. That save sets up another England corner from which he saves from Kane’s shot low to his right, claws away another curling chip and then smothers a fifth shot, this time from the right, England’s 18th shot on target in total.
England are all over Croatia.
No country for old men, this. Modric is replaced by Kovacic after reelin’ and a rockin’ all game.
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Although Croatia defend that corner they are looking besieged by England’s relentless wave of attacks. Now they have another one after Kane’s quarter-back pass out to the right for Madueke and James to chase in combination. James is tackled by the byline and the ball dribbles out to give Rice another chance from the corner quadrant.
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England have certainly woken up after what we assume was a half-time rocket. Rice storms down the inside-left channel to within 25 yards of goal, opens his body and bends a right-foot shot towards the top right that is turned behind for a corner.
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And it really should be 4-2. Bellingham wriggles down the inside left channel to fire a shot that Livakovic turns behind for a corner. Rice whips it to the back post and O’Reilly, unmarked, has a free header but pumps it into the hoardings.
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England 3 Croatia 2 (Bellingham) That’s a terrific move. Konsa to James who spins it infield to Anderson. The Forest midfielder bends a right-foot pass 25 yards up the right. Madueke may have flicked it on or dummied it as Bellingham was yelling for the ball a couple of yards ahead. The Real Madrid midfielder takes the ball on, cuts across Pasalic, and bombs off into the box to scud a shot across Livakovic and into the bottom left corner.
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No changes as yet. Lee Dixon agrees with Matt Law and is concerned about Stones,
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A complicated an confusing first half from us. A lot of nervous energy which may be excusable in the first game of the World Cup. We made some decisions when then energy wasn’t free in our minds, playing long when we should have played short and playing short when we should have played long. Fearful patterns. No threaded passes to accelerate game.
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A penny for Marc Guehi’s thoughts. Tuchel’s decision to stick with Konsa and Stones hasn’t gone to plan. Stones was at fault for Croatia’s first goal and Konsa could take some of the blame for the second. England’s defence has been flagged by many as a weakness and it is certainly proving to be the case in Dallas.
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That has been a very worrying first 45 minutes. England started nervously – understandably – but everything has been so disjointed and poor. It feels like we want to be a Premier League team in an international football tournament, relying on set-pieces and counter-attacks. I still believe we will win the game with changes from the bench. More pace is coming. But I am concerned about what I have seen. Are we not worried about dominating possession?
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Defensively England let themselves down twice They were slow to react to losing but possession for the first goal and James lost his man for the second. England playing a classic box midfield – Unai Emery style – with Rice and Anderson at the base and Bellingham and Kane as the top. Kane not playing as a conventional No 9. Wingers making inside out runs. Short passes to build out from the back and then, as soon as they break a line, looking to release runners in behind. Very 2026 football.
Thomas Tuchel cannot be happy with that half from England. Twice they have gone ahead and twice they have retreated and conceded with some pretty poor defending. The shape of the team does not look quite right and, surely, it should not be the plan for Harry Kane to be dropping so deep? Too many players look nervous and not in control.
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Hard to sum up a performance of such contrasting quality. A handful of impressive moments down the right and from a Rice special-style corner and some woeful defending.
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England 2 Croatia 2 (Musa) VAR check to see whether Perisic was offside in the build-up. But no. He was level and Musa exposes England’s dozy defending all half by firing in a volley from seven yards from the left of the penalty area. Pasalic had chipped it to Perisic who cushioned a header to Musa. The Dallas centre-forward had crept in unmarked and steered his shot past a helpless Pickford.
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There are five minutes of stoppage time and England are living dangerously by inviting Pasalic to shoot from range. He can fire them in from 30 yards but this one whistles past the right post. Kane claims he was fouled by Pasalic but the ref tells him to get up and get on with it.
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James plants the free-kick straight into Modric’s stomach. He must have abs of tungsten as that would have winded most men.
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England free-kick 28 yards out, left of centre, for a rather soft foul on Bellingham. James lines it up.
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England 2 Croatia 1 (Kane) Rice, the master of the inswinger, whips an outswinger from the right. Kane eludes his marker and meets the ball to the left of the penalty spot and arrows his header into the bottom left. In fact there was no marker at all. They gave him a free run. Crazy.
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England corner on the right taken by Rice…
Pickford and Stones seemed to exchange words after that Croatia goal. For my money, Stones was at fault for going to ground far too easy and wildly. It was reminiscent of the way Ollie Watkins left him on his backside on the final day of the Premier League season.
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England 1 Croatia 1 (Baturina) An absolute screamer from 20 yards, wrapping his right instep round it and making it swerve from the right of the D towards the top left. The shot, according to Fifa, was 120kmh and flew past Rice and through Pickford, who was at full stretch. Set up by Sucic’s clever dummy in the box when he shaped to shoot but then rolled it back to Baturina.
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Engalnd have been very good at winning the ball, turnovers in modern parlance, tackles in old money. One such Anderson tackle sets Bellingham off on a run upfield that ends with James standing up a cross that Kane just couldn’t reach.
It’s not been great so far – a strange opening 30 minutes. You’d have thought the goal would be a platform for domination. Instead, we’ve allowed Croatia to get on the ball. While it’s OK for Kane to drop deep, he shouldn’t be so deep that he is passing from the edge of his own penalty area. Madueke has been the spark so far. We need to keep getting him on the ball.
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Bellingham has a gilded chance. But he can’t quite get there after Kane worked a 20-yard pass from the centre to Madueke who skitters towards the box then whips in a low cross, bending slightly away from goal towards the penalty spot. Bellingham slips between Vuskovic and Sutalo and only needs a firm touch to stab it in but the ball slides off his toe and squirts off towards the corner flag. Lovely cross from Madueke who has impressed so far. Gordon very good on the press, too. That’s why Barcelona have bought him.
On a broiling day in North Texas, the mercy of this game being held under a roof can scarcely be overstated. When Germany played South Korea in Dallas’ open-air Cotton Bowl at the 1994 World Cup, in temperatures of 38.5C (101F), the players said that they could feel the heat scorching through the soles of their shoes.
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Kane buys a foul at the edge of England’s penalty area with a quick turn and his strength to shield it.
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England fans sing ‘What the f------ hell was that?’ after the tea-break.
Interesting contrast in approach from the two coaches during the hydration break. Thomas Tuchel has his players in a tight circle and is forcefully making some tactical points. Croatia’s Zlatko Dalic has just let his team get on with it.
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First drinks break in a stadium that is cooled by air conditioning.
PAUZA ZA HIDRATACIJU as they say in Croatia. Fans in Dallas booed the hydration break.
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Bellingham takes a short pass from Harry Kane on halfway and heads off on a dribble up the inside-left channel. Madueke is screaming for a pass on the right while Gordon is not even in the picture. Bellingham feints to the right then darts to his left to run into the box but is swamped by defenders rallying back and can only shoot into a thicket of Croatia’s shins.
Since the goal – and the retake – England’s short passing game much slicker. They have moved the ball very well looking for the moment for Gordon or Maudeke or Bellingham to run in behind.
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England are yet to find any true cohesion though Kane has looked good dropping deep to spray passes out wide.
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Superb Kane diagonal chip invites Madueke to launch himself out of his blocks and gallop down the right to take the ball in his stride, tack into the penalty area and shoot from an angle of about 60 degrees from the post but Livakovic came out smartly to rush him and he spread himself to block the shot, flying starfish style.
Noni Madueke appeared to shout ‘vamos’ to try to encourage the England crowd. Anthony Gordon claimed he had learned Spanish in just six lessons, so maybe Madueke is practising his.
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Croatia want a penalty when Musa goes down in the box having used a velvety touch to spin it past James who tried to grab him then thoight better of it. The referee awards a corner than rescinds even that when he gets a call from VAR.
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England 1 Croatia 0 (Kane, pen) Second bite of the cherry, this time he nails it, whipping it into the bottom right corner.
That goal means Harry Kane now has nine goals in World Cups for England and he is just one behind Gary Lineker’s record of 10. I don’t think we will see another stutter run-up from him on penalties at this tournament.
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Modric blindsided by Madueke as he tries to clear the corner, boots the England winger. Stonewall pen or ‘stonebonker’ as Terry Venables used to call them.
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England corner on the right when Kane spins 16 yards out to shoot and it’s deflected behind. The chance was set up by robbing a dawdling Modric.
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Tuchel said in his pre-match interview that they anticipated that Kovacic would start and his absence would affect their pressing strategy but the players were good enough to adapt. They haven’t as yet.
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Sloppy start by England with their use of the ball in wide areas in defence and then when Madueke doubled back instead of taking the chance to have a run at Gvardiol. Opening games are almost always riddled with caution and nerves.
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Perisic takes the corner from the right O’Reilly gets under the ball, misses the header at the back post but Sutalo hooks a volley miles wide.
Zlatko Dalić appeared to give Thomas Tuchel a gift in a bag just before kick-off. Might it be an official Fifa Croatia 2026 watch? Ot maybe one of the 2022 editions Fifa couldn’t shift ...
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Sucic presses Stones aggressively in the England area when O’Reilly invites his former City team-mate to take a pass in a tight pocket. He wants to give it to Pickford but Sucic won’t let him and England have to concede a corner.
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Declan Rice kicks off for England who are attacking from left to right. They have three runners on the right and they roll the ball back to Pickford to launch it 70 yards diagonally. Gvardiol wins the header and the ball goes from end to end and back again with long clearances.
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It’s time for an advert break. I thought ITV might not have one for England games but, hey, Manhattan lofts don’t come cheap.
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First up is God Save the King followed by Lijepa nasa. Croatia are heart-clutchers like the locals.
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England will play in all white, Croatia, as they did in the 2018 semi-final (shut up, Jonah), in all blue.
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I have a lot of confidence and belief in this team. We have a lot of young players and still some old guard.
I have always said that age is just a number. For me it’s not important. It’s important how you feel and what you do on the pitch.
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This is what we have worked for to be ready for the day. I don’t want to be anywhere else in the world so let’s go.
These are ideal conditions to play an intensive match. That’s our aim. We stick with the team that started so well against Costa Rica. In training yesterday Bukayo Saka was amazing [but] we will not start and finish this match with 11 players. We have players who can influence and change matches from the bench. That is important.
It was a 50-50 call to go with Jude [instead of Morgan Rogers].
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Big fan of the Croatia squad’s navy knit polo shirts with red and white trim. All of them wearing them as they got off bus with blue slacks and white trainers. The vibe is Sterling Cooper company barbecue. Stylish.
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England (4-2-3-1) Pickford; James, Konsa, Stones, O’Reilly; Anderson, Rice; Madueke, Bellingham, Gordon; Kane.
Substitutes Dean Henderson, Trafford, Guéhi, Burn, Spence, Quansah, Jordan Henderson, Mainoo, Rogers, Eze, Saka, Rashford, Watkins, Toney.
Croatia (3-4-2-1) Livakovic; Sutalo, Vuskovic, Gvardiol; Stanisic, Modric, Petar Sucic, Perisic; Mario Pasalic, Baturina; Musa.
Substitutes Pandur, Kotarski, Pongracic, Caleta-Car, Jakic, Erlic, Moro, Kovacic, Vlasic, Fruk, Luka Sucic, Kramaric, Budimir, Matanovic, Marco Pasalic.
Referee Clément Turpin (France).
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Thomas Tuchel is unleashing his £300m midfield against Croatia’s olden generation. Jude Bellingham cost £115m. Declan Rice was £105m. Elliot Anderson will be sold for over £100m after the World Cup.
Between them, their average age is 24. They have youth and energy on their side.
Compare that with Croatia’s most prominent stars, including 40-year-old Luka Modric – a great of the game but past his peak – and another veteran in Ivan Perisic (37). Croatia have included a couple of younger players in their starting XI to cover for their legends, but the plan for England is obvious. Inject as much pace as possible into the game.
Tuchel’s two biggest calls focused on who would play as the 10 and on England’s right. The inclusion of Bellingham and Noni Madueke do not exactly qualify as shock choices, but they give the clearest insight into Tuchel’s approach. He is picking players to fit his system, not changing the system to accommodate players.
In a previous era, the lack of full fitness for Bukayo Saka would have led to Cole Palmer or Phil Foden’s inclusion – players of a completely different profile. We now see why Tuchel did not take them to the United States.
In Madueke he sees a like-for-like replacement. Madueke is not the same level as Saka, but for the make-up of the side, he is quick and will stick to his role as a winger. England’s attack is built around Harry Kane and Tuchel wants speed around him.
The midfield and wingers will be key for setting the tone Tuchel demands. We have come into many tournaments hoping to see the speed and intensity of a Premier League game, and for many reasons, it is very difficult to achieve that at a World Cup.
Tonight will be the first test of whether Tuchel’s vision for how England want to play can match the reality of what it is really like in a major international tournament.
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Trevoh Chalobah is named as a substitute on the official team-sheet for this match - but he is in Kansas rather than Dallas. Thomas Tuchel called him up to the World Cup squad to cover for Tino Livramento’s injury - but he heads to the team basecamp rather than this game. There is a behind-closed-doors friendly against Sporting KC tomorrow so he may get a run-out in that game.
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Regula starters Kovacic, 32, Bidmi, 34, and Karamic, 34, are all on the bench. The 19-year-old Luka Vuskovic who spent last year on loan from Tottenham at Hamburg is a brilliant prospect. Looks like 4-5-1 with FC Dallas’s Petar Musa playing in his home state if not his home stadium (the MLS club play in Frisco).
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As called by Matt Law, below. It’s the same XI that started the Costa Rica game:
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AT&T Stadium, Dallas. 'America's Dream City,' they call this complex. And the place where England's pursuit of their own American dream is about to begin pic.twitter.com/EU89KKsLlY
— Oliver Brown (@oliverbrown_tel) June 17, 2026
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City send best wishes to Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol:
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England fans have become known for the sea of St George’s flags they have draped around stadiums at World Cups for the last half a century.
But this summer supporters are being restricted in where they can make their mark.
Telegraph Sport understands that fans arriving for England’s first game in Dallas will be limited to draping their flags on rails behind the goals.
For those sitting elsewhere, a ban will be enforced on any displays which interfere with the stadium’s LED hoardings.
Like at many stadiums across the US, brightly lit digital displays dominate the 70,000-capacity AT&T Stadium, stretching around the stands on multiple tiers.
England fans are making do to fly the flag tonight…
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At least 100 people in the queue outside a single Fifa merchandise concession behind one of the goals. That’s the Fifa dream. The American appetite for spending extra at sporting events as sharp as ever.
Fifa merch included half-and-half scarves at an eye-watering $45 (£33.60) a piece. You don’t get those prices outside Premier League stadiums.
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More team news from Dallas. Having reported that Jude Bellingham is in line to start against Croatia, it now seems Thomas Tuchel will name the same team that started England’s final warm-up game against Costa Rica.
That would mean Noni Madueke starting on the right, with Tuchel deciding not to gamble on the fitness of Bukayao Saka. Ezri Konsa appears to have got the nod over Marc Guehi to partner John Stones at the back, while Anthony Gordon appears to have won his battle with Marcus Rashford.
Telegraph Sport reported last week that England head coach Tuchel was veering towards naming the Costa Rica team against Croatia and there does not seem to have been a late change of plan.
The projected team is: Pickford; James, Konsa, Stones, O’Reilly; Rice, Anderson; Madueke, Bellingham, Gordon; Kane.
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Rare is the matchday that my colleague Mike McGrath doesn’t kick off his Telegraph Sport duties with a refreshing margarita. But at these Dallas Stadium prices – no way. As you can see by his stunned expression, he won’t pay $25.50 (£19.05).
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Oliver Brown has and plotted the paths to glory:
You can have a go yourself here:
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When it comes to Luka Modric, I am not objective. I am not saying that he is the best-ever. No. But I am saying that nobody is better than him. No-one. Would he be the first player that I would sign, even at 40? Absolutely. Because of the overall package.
Do you remember what Marcelo Bielsa said about him? “Luka is not a six, he’s not eight, he’s not a 10. He’s a 24.” And that is brilliant. You will find midfielders who score more goals, who run more, who pass better, who are better defensively. But there is no midfielder who, if you add all that up, is better than him. He would have the highest score. He can do it all.
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Harry Redknapp, who was ‘the people’s choice’ for the England job in 2007 and 2012, losing out to Fabio Capello and Roy Hodgson, has been talking to the Daily T:
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The Croatia shirt this year has been desecrated by the meddlesome design fraternity, as you can read here in Thom Gibbs’ magnificent octopus.
But this is something special:
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His nibs has some ground to make up after Lionel Messi celebrated his escape from a red card by bagging a hat-trick.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 17, 202641 - Aged 41 years and 132 days, 🇵🇹 Cristiano Ronaldo is the oldest outfield player to start a match in FIFA World Cup history.
Timeless. pic.twitter.com/HpjlY4PTs4
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Good evening and welcome to live coverage of England’s opening game of the 2026 World Cup when they take on Croatia in Dallas, Texas at 9pm. Mercifully, given the roof and the aircon, temperatures will be considerably cooler than the 34C forecast for outside, as relatively mild as 20C which will obviously help England but will also benefit Croatia’s Dad’s Army whose expected starting XI has an average age of 32 years and six months.
This is the second most difficult first-group game in the tournament – Brazil and Morocco are separated by one place in the FIfa rankings, England, in fourth, are seven spots higher than Croatia, the team that knocked them out of the World Cup at the semi-final stage in 2018. But Gareth Southgate’s side would go on to beat them 2-1 in the Nations League four months later and again, by virtue of Raheem Sterling’s goal, 1-0 at the Euros in 2021.
We have Southgate to thank for England’s improved record in the opening games of World Cups. His England beat Tunisia 2-1 eight years ago in Russia and Iran 6-2 in Qatar but before that decent results were sporadic – in 1970, 1982 and 1998 – strung together by the draw with Uruguay at Wembley in 1966, defeat by Portugal in 1986, the stultifying draws with Ireland in 1990, Sweden in 2002, Algeria in 2010 and defeat by Italy in Brazil four years later. Even the 1-0 win over Paraguay in Frankfurt 20 years ago was as dull as ditch-water and set the tone for England’s stinking performances thereon.
One thing Southgate did not manage to overcome is the curse of ITV, which is showing this match exclusively live in the UK. Of the 34 England games the channel has broadcast since 1998, there were merely 10 victories, a win rate of 29 per cent. BBC, by contrast, eviscerated for its studio base in Salford for the group stages as if it were wholly materially different from a studio in Manhattan where there are also no matches being played, has 21 England wins from 31 games, a rate of 67 per cent.
Not that Thomas Tuchel will give a fig, striking this author at least as the embodiment of practicality. And yet anyone who remembers Chelsea’s magnificent performance in their Champions League semi-final victory over Real Madrid in 2021 know he has a touch of the alchemist about him too.
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