Kane's penalty settles it as England beat Croatia 2-1 at Wembley

Morten Krogh refereed a 19:45 UK kick-off in front of 80,484 at Wembley Stadium. Thomas Tuchel picked a four-two-three-one: Pickford in goal, Alexander-Arnold, Quansah, Burn and Hall across the back, Anderson and Rice in front of them, and Rogers, Bellingham and Gordon behind Kane, who wore the armband. Slaven Bilic set Croatia up in the same shape, with Livaković behind Smolčić, Stanišić, Vušković and Gvardiol, Mišić and Kovačić, the captain, in midfield, and Sučić, Baturina and Vlašić supporting Matanović.

England went ahead in the 24th minute, Bellingham with the assist and Rogers with the goal, and they were still 1-0 up at half-time. Croatia drew level through Sučić in the 59th minute, and in the 64th Kane put England back in front from the penalty spot. There were no more goals.

Both managers went to their benches after that. Bilic moved first, with Budimir for Matanović and Mario Pašalić for Sučić in the 70th minute, then Modrić for Mišić and Marco Pašalić for Smolčić in the 76th. Tuchel answered with Garner for Rice and Ngumoha for Gordon in the 77th and White for Alexander-Arnold in the 78th, and Bilic sent on Majer for Kovačić in the 90th. None of it changed the score.

England had 54.2 per cent of the ball, played 557 passes to 467 and completed them at 89.0 per cent against 87.6. They had 35 touches in the opposition box to 23 and took 15 shots to 13. On those numbers, England spent more of the evening in the right room of the house. What they did there was less tidy. England put four efforts on target to Croatia's five, and they were credited with four saves to Croatia's one. Without the ball the figures turn round: England made 15 tackles to Croatia's 22 and won six to 13. Read together, those figures say Croatia made England defend more than 54.2 per cent of the ball would suggest: England cleared 25 times to 18 and won 15 aerial duels to 10. They won six corners to Croatia's seven.

Before this game England's form guide listed wins over the Czech Republic at home and away, a 7-0 win away to Croatia and a 6-4 win over France at the World Cup (our report), with a 2-3 home defeat by Spain (our analysis) the one mark against them. Croatia's guide listed a 2-1 win away to the Czech Republic and defeats by Spain at home and away, by England at home and by Portugal at the World Cup. This was nothing like the 7-0. England kept the ball, got into the box and took the points, and still gave up more shots on target than they managed themselves. A penalty in the 64th minute paid the bill. The four saves to one are the receipt for the rest of the evening.

Three meetings are listed here, and England won all three: England 1-0 Croatia at the European Championship on 13 June 2021, England 4-2 Croatia at the World Cup on 17 June 2026 (our report) and Croatia 0-7 England in the Nations League on 3 October 2026 (how that one went).

In League A Group 3, as the table stood at 21:41 on 12 November with this match counted, Spain were top on 15 points from five games and England second on 12. Croatia were third on three points and the Czech Republic fourth with none. The first two places are the quarter-final places; third leads to a possible relegation play-off and fourth to possible relegation.