England's Front Four Found Its Rhythm in Rijeka, and Croatia Could Not Find an Answer

Seven goals away from home is the headline. The more interesting detail is who scored them and how little Croatia did to stop it. England's four attackers, Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Anthony Gordon and Bukayo Saka, produced six of the seven goals and every assist bar two, and the BBC's Phil McNulty described it as arguably Thomas Tuchel's most impressive performance as head coach. The question for England is whether this is a front line that has found its rhythm, or a night when a weakened opponent made everything look easy.

A front four that rarely stopped moving

The goals came in a steady procession. Kane scored after eight minutes, punishing a Josko Gvardiol mistake by taking Bellingham's pass in his stride and finishing high past Dominik Livakovic. Bellingham added the second after 21 minutes from close range, after Gordon controlled Saka's cross at the far post. Gordon headed in the third on 39 minutes from Jarell Quansah's cross, and Saka added a fourth on the stroke of half-time from Bellingham's delivery. England went in four goals clear at the break.

The second half did not slow. Kane slid in at the far post to convert Elliot Anderson's cross on 53 minutes, Saka made it 6-0 on 68 minutes, and substitute Morgan Rogers rounded Livakovic for the seventh on 87 minutes. The match data records Bellingham with assists at 8, 45 and 87 minutes, which is three, alongside a goal of his own.

Kane described the structure in his own words afterwards. He said all four of the forwards can operate in the "10 pocket" or as a nine, which made it hard for Croatia to pick a man to press. He added that if England lose the ball, they are smart enough to cover midfield or defence. That is a captain's account, but the pattern of the goals fits it: the chances came from several angles and none relied on a single runner.

The numbers behind the rout

The match statistics back up the eye. England had 19 shots to Croatia's 12, and 10 of them were on target against Croatia's one. England managed 45 touches inside the opposition box to Croatia's 17, and 157 successful final-third passes to 71. Possession was 63.6% to 36.4%.

One figure from the stats feels almost cruel: Croatia made 20 clearances to England's four. That is a team defending its own area for long stretches, while England needed to defend theirs hardly at all. Goalkeeper saves tell the same story, three for Croatia and one for England.

Individual marks of a night

Several of the individual details stand out. Bellingham is the first midfielder to record four goal involvements in a match for England since David Platt scored four against San Marino in February 1993, according to the BBC's match coverage. Kane is the first player to score 10-plus goals in three different calendar years for England: 11 in 2026, 16 in 2021 and 12 in 2019. Saka scored two right-footed goals in a match for the first time in his senior career for club and country, on his 378th appearance.

Gordon's goal was his fourth in four games, and McNulty called him a revelation since his move to Barcelona from Newcastle United. He argued that Gordon's form ends any debate about his place on the left flank. Bellingham, in the same assessment, was a "virtuoso" on the night. BBC users' ratings agree with that ordering: Bellingham averaged 8.99, Gordon 8.68, Kane 8.65 and Saka 7.83.

Is a settled attack now a settled selection?

This is where analysis has to take over from description. Former England defender Matt Upson, speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, said Gordon, Saka and Bellingham would start every game, with Bellingham at number 10. That is Upson's judgement rather than a team announcement, but the evidence on the night supports the logic of it. McNulty noted that Rogers had been Bellingham's main rival for the number 10 role and that his late goal showed he was "still around". A settled front four seems plausible. A permanent one is not something this match can prove.

Rogers himself called the performance a benchmark for how England want to play. He also said the squad's depth, with players coming off the bench wanting to make an impact, makes a difference. The substitutions here changed little in terms of shape, and Rogers scored from the bench, which suits that narrative.

The qualification: how good was Croatia?

Honesty requires the other side of the ledger. McNulty wrote that England faced a "shambolic" Croatia side that was a shadow of the formidable force that has troubled them in the past, and he also noted that "dreadful defending" helped the scoreline. The game was played in a stadium described as behind closed doors as a sanction against Croatia supporters, with about 6,000 schoolchildren and 100 visiting fans present. Kane also suggested Croatia rested a lot of players in midweek because they saw this as their best chance of reaching the top two in the group.

Even so, the context is not trivial. Croatia had never lost in Rijeka before, and had lost only four of their previous 41 home games, according to the BBC. England had also beaten the same opposition 4-2 at the World Cup in Dallas 108 days earlier. Two fixtures against the same country, the second a 7-0, make a striking comparison, though the circumstances differ greatly and it would be unwise to read one as a verdict on the other.

Some of the BBC's own readers made the same point. One said it was the best England had played in 12 months, but cautioned against getting carried away because Croatia were poor. Another asked how England would fare against the best. Those are fair questions that a rout in Rijeka cannot answer.

What Tuchel took from it

Tuchel pointed to one weak spell. About three minutes after the third goal, he said, England had a "big mistake" involving a Mateo Kovacic opportunity and some easy ball losses. Otherwise he called it a 90-minute performance at the highest level. He said England kept the pace up, played through the gaps and stayed hungry in their counter-pressing.

That attention to defensive work matters because McNulty tied the recent attacking intent to criticism of Tuchel after what he called timid tactics in the World Cup semi-final defeat by Argentina. Even in the opening Nations League defeat by Spain, England were a threat, he wrote, before a rare Kane penalty miss that could have made it 3-1; they lost 3-2. Since then there has been a win in Prague and now this.

The table and what comes next

England sit second in League A Group 3 with 6 points from three games, behind Spain on 9. Their goal difference is plus eight, from 11 scored and three conceded. Croatia are third on 3 points, with a goal difference of minus nine. The top two in each group go to the quarter-finals, according to the table key.

England host Czech Republic at Wembley on Tuesday, when Kane can equal Peter Shilton's all-time record of 125 England appearances if he plays. Kane joked that Tuchel takes him off to save him for the next one. A midfielder making his first start, Alex Scott, said it was "frightening" how much talent the squad has. The risk for England is that frightening talent becomes an assumption. Against Czech Republic, who have lost all three of their games, the test will be less about quality and more about keeping this rhythm when the opposition is not obliging.

Research: This article uses the archived evidence supplied for this story. Story inspiration: BBC Sport's original report.