Match Centre: England 4-2 Croatia
- H. Kane (12′PEN) (42′)
- J. Bellingham (47′)
- M. Rashford (85′)
- M. Baturina (36′)
- P. Musa (50′)
Everything you need to know about the Three Lions' 2026 FIFA World Cup opening victory in Dallas
England v Croatia
Group L fixture
FIFA World Cup 2026
Wednesday 17 June 2026, 9pm BST
Dallas Stadium
Croatia in profile
Nickname: Vatreni
Coach: Zlatko Dalić
Captain: Luka Modrić
Match Stats
• England and Croatia are meeting at the FIFA World Cup for the second time. Their first encounter came in the semi-final of the 2018 tournament – when Croatia won 2-1 after extra-time against Gareth Southgate's team.
• This is the fourth match between England and Croatia at a major tournament this century – twice at the FIFA World Cup (one Croatia win so far, in the semi-finals of the 2018 tournament) and twice at the UEFA European Championship (both England wins). Sweden are the only other team that England have faced as frequently at major tournaments in the 21st century (also four).
• England will be making their 17th FIFA World Cup appearance this year – it also marks their eighth consecutive participation, their longest ever streak since missing out in 1994, when the tournament was last held in the United States. Since winning their only FIFA World Cup in 1966, England have progressed past the quarter-finals on only two occasions: 1990 (fouth place) and 2018 (fourth place).
• England have lost just one of their last eight FIFA World Cup openers (W4 D3) – a 2-1 defeat to Italy in 2014. Conversely, Croatia have won only one of their last five opening matches (D1 L3) – 2-0 v Nigeria in 2018.
• England were one of two UEFA teams along with Norway to win 100 per cent of their games in qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup (8/8); they were also the only team from the UEFA section not to concede a single goal. Meanwhile, Croatia won seven of their eight matches with Czechia the only team to stop them winning (0-0 in Prague).
• This is Croatia’s seventh FIFA World Cup appearance. In their six previous participations, they have been eliminated in the group stage three times and finished in the top three on the other three. Croatia are one of only two teams to have reached the semi-finals in each of the last two FIFA World Cup editions – the other are France.
• Croatia are unbeaten in their FIFA World Cup group matches across the last two editions (W4 D2), conceding only two goals in that span. Their last such defeat was against Mexico in 2014 (1-3). Only Kylian Mbappé (12) has scored more goals than Harry Kane (8) across the last two FIFA World Cups.
• If Kane features against Croatia, it will be his 30th match at a major international tournament (World Cup and EURO), more than any other England player.
• Should Luka Modrić feature, he will join a select few European players to have competed in as many as five FIFA World Cup tournaments. Modric has completed 175 line-breaking passes across the last two World Cup tournaments, that’s 50 more than any other player.
• Ivan Perišić has been directly involved in more goals than any other Croatian in major tournament history (ten goals and eight assists in FIFA World Cup/Euro). He’s also one of three players to have both scored and assisted at each of the last three World Cups, alongside Lionel Messi and Neymar.
Last time out: England 1-0 Croatia
Raheem Sterling scored the winner in England's first group match at UEFA EURO 2020 at Wembley Stadium
Head to head
In our eleven games to date, the Three Lions have won six and Croatia have won three, with two draws along the way.
June’s game will be the fourth time we’ve met Croatia at a major tournament with the most recent being our opening group-stage game of EURO 2020, when a Raheem Sterling goal at Wembley proved to be the winner
Before that, there was the 2-1 semi-final extra-time defeat at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, while our first major tournament meeting came with a 4-2 victory in the group stages at UEFA EURO 2004 when an 18-year-old Wayne Rooney bagged a memorable brace.
Out first meeting with Croatia came 30 years ago, when a side featuring the likes of Davor Šuker, Robert Prosinečki, Igor Štimac, Alen Bokšić and Slaven Bilić visited Wembley in April 1996, in the build up to the EUROs held in England later that year.
From the archive: England 2-1 Croatia
A thrilling comeback at Wembley in the inaugural UEFA Nations League
England Squad News
Ticket Information
Find out more about getting tickets for the FIFA World Cup 2026.
How to watch or stream
England v Croatia at the World Cup will be shown live on ITV1 in the UK.
Follow England matches live
Get all the latest match updates and match content first on our Live Blog and get exclusive behind-the-scenes content from the England camp on the official England app.
The Three Lions head coach has handed senior World Cup debuts to six players in his line-up with Ezri Konsa, Nico O'Reilly, Elliot Anderson, Anthony Gordon, Noni Madueke and Reece James all getting their first appearances at the competition.
Captain Harry Kane leads the line, while Jude Bellingham, Madueke and Gordon will be looking to supply the service as John Stones and Ezri Konsa will be partners in central defence.
John Stones and Jordan Pickford will both play their 25th consecutive major tournament games while Jude Bellingham becomes the youngest European player to feature in four different major senior tournaments.
England: 1 Jordan Pickford, 2 Ezri Konsa, 3 Nico O'Reilly, 4 Declan Rice, 5 John Stones, 8 Elliot Anderson, 9 Harry Kane (c), 10 Jude Bellingham, 18 Anthony Gordon, 20 Noni Madueke, 24 Reece James
Substitutes: 6 Marc Guehi, 7 Bukayo Saka, 11 Marcus Rashford, 13 Dean Henderson, 14 Jordan Henderson, 15 Dan Burn, 16 Kobbie Mainoo, 17 Morgan Rogers, 19 Ollie Watkins, 21 Eberechi Eze, 22 Ivan Toney, 23 James Trafford, 25 Djed Spence, 26 Jarell Quansah
Harry Kane scored twice as England kicked-off their FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign with a thrilling 4-2 win over Croatia at the Dallas Stadium.
Having waited patiently to make their entrance in Group L, Thomas Tuchel’s men played out a cracker of a game, with the England skipper opening the scoring from the penalty spot before grabbing his second late in the first half.
Still, England were twice pegged back in the opening 45 minutes, before Jude Bellingham’s strike immediately after half time restored their advantage.
Dominik Livakovic performed heroics to keep England out after the third goal as England looked to turn the screw but five minutes from time, Marcus Rashford came off the bench to make it four and allow England fans a sigh of relief.
England’s first real threat came when Noni Madueke made inroads down the right, and after the ball found its way to Kane in the box, he took advantage of an inch of space to shoot on the turn, with his effort deflected wide.
From the ensuing corner, Madueke reacted quickest to a bouncing ball, nipping in ahead of Luka Modric before the Croatian skipper brought him down while trying to clear.
Kane stepped up and had his initial penalty effort saved by Dominik Livakovic, but an encroachment from Josko Gvardiol saw the spot-kick retaken. Given a second attempt, Kane fired low to the same corner, opening the scoring on 12 minutes.
Petar Musa showed that Croatia could prove dangerous, when he almost found some space in the England box, but Bellingham did well to get back and force a goal kick.
Croatia’s equaliser came somewhat against the run of play, a brilliant right-footed finish from Martin Baturina that Jordan Pickford could only get a fingertip to after an acrobatic dive.
But just as it seemed England would go into half time with a lead, Croatia equalised for the second time.
Deep in stoppage time, Ivan Perisic found some space and knocked it to Musa, who slotted it home to make it 2-2 at the break.
England came out in the second half as a team transformed, taking the lead for the third time within two minutes of the restart.
Bellingham found space down the right and had no hesitation as he drove into box before shooting into the far corner past Livakovic.
Rice drove forward and tried to bend the ball home, his shot a little too central to trouble the keeper, who then made a remarkable triple save, the pick of which was a strong hand to keep out an O’Reilly header.
It was all England at this stage, with Kane next to threaten as Livakovic had to get down low to deny him.
But while they had not pulled clear, Croatia remained dangerous, with Pickford forced into a vital save 15 minutes from time from Marco Pasalic’s shot at goal.
Djed Spence was introduced for Bellingham and almost matched the man he had replaced, making a brilliant run onto a ball on the right, with Livakovic again on hand to keep England out.
But he had no answer when Rashford was found in space and cut inside the final defender before sliding the ball home to make the game safe.
England: 1 Jordan Pickford; 24 Reece James, 2 Ezri Konsa, 5 John Stones, 3 Nico O’Reilly; 4 Declan Rice, 8 Elliot Anderson; 20 Noni Madueke, 10 Jude Bellingham, 18 Anthony Gordon; 9 Harry Kane
Substitutes: 17 Morgan Rogers for Rice 72’, 7 Bukayo Saka for Gordon 72’, 11 Marcus Rashford for Madueke 72’, 25 Djed Spence for Bellingham 80’, 6 Marc Guehi for Stones 87’
Subs not used: 13 Dean Henderson, 23 James Trafford, 15 Dan Burn, 26 Jarell Quansah, 14 Jordan Henderson, 16 Kobbie Mainoo, 21 Eberechi Eze, 19 Ollie Watkins, 22 Ivan Toney
Head Coach: Thomas Tuchel
Goals: Kane 12 (pen)’, 42’, Bellingham 47’, Rashford 85’
Croatia: 1 Dominik Livakovic; 2 Josip Stanisic, 4 Josko Gvardiol, 6 Josip Sutalo, 22 Luka Vuskovic; 10 Luka Modric, 15 Mario Pasalic, 16 Martin Baturina, 17 Petar Sucic; 14 Ivan Perisic, 26 Petar Musa
Substitutes: 8 Mateo Kovacic for Modric 58’, 20 Igor Matanovic for Vuskovic 66’, 24 Marco Pasalic for Musa 66’, 13 Nikola Vlasic for Baturina 79’, 9 Andrej Kramaric for Mario Pasalic 79’
Subs not used: 12 Ivor Pandur, 23 Dominik Kotarski, 3 Marin Pongracic, 5 Duje Caleta-Car, 18 Kristijan Jakic, 25 Martin Erlic, 7 Nikola Moro, 19 Toni Fruk, 21 Luka Sucic, 11 Ante Budimir
Head Coach: Zlatko Dalic
Goals: Baturina 36’, Musa 45+5’