England delivered a performance of genuine class in Rijeka, dismantling Croatia 7-0 in the Nations League. Jude Bellingham was the standout figure, Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka both scored twice, and Thomas Tuchel’s side looked tight, mobile and high-technique from first to last. Yet the match was framed by an administrative decision that Barney Ronay, writing in The Guardian, described as an abomination.
The fixture was subject to a stadium ban, imposed as punishment for a mass fan march to the Stade de France in Paris last March. That march was accompanied by Nazi salutes, and a stash of combat-ready weapons — including iron rods, telescopic batons and sharp wooden sticks — was discovered later. Despite the ban, the stands at Stadion HNK Rijeka were packed with 6,000 children and their designated handlers, a loophole that Ronay argued made a mockery of UEFA’s sanctions.
Ronay’s central criticism was that the Croatian Football Association said no to racism by saying yes to children attending a game adults were banned from because of racism. He argued it sent a confusing message, effectively treating racism as a children’s holiday event, and urged UEFA to close the loophole that allowed the stands to be filled. England’s supporters were also punished, with only about a hundred allowed to make the two-hour drive from Zagreb.
On the pitch, England were ruthless. Tuchel fielded a fluid midfield trident of Alex Scott, Elliot Anderson and Bellingham, and it took just seven minutes for the opening goal: Scott drove forward, Bellingham supplied a slick pass, and Kane finished with a strike that could be heard from the stands. Bellingham made it 2-0 on 20 minutes after nimble work from Anthony Gordon, his eighth goal in eight England games following six in his previous 37. Gordon headed in a whipped cross from Jarell Quansah for 3-0 on 38 minutes, and just before half-time Bellingham ran 80 metres to retake the ball before crossing for Saka to tap in.
After the break, Modrić came and went, a slightly sad spectacle in itself. Ronay wrote that he no longer looks like a little boy dressed up as a witch, but a gnarled middle-aged footballer dressed up as one — still possessing brilliance and touch, but not in this team of old men. Kane soon got his second after a good cross from Anderson, who was too much for Croatia, and Saka added another, set up by Kane. By the end, 7-0 did not seem flattering.
The performance itself felt repeatable. England were balanced, intense and technically secure, and Ronay argued it represented progress from the World Cup. Bellingham, in particular, looked irresistible. But the occasion also highlighted a deeper problem for Croatian football: Ronay described a far-right, Nazi-adjacent ultra culture still pegged around white supremacy symbols and references to the Ustaše, the vicious puppet regime of the Second World War. His final takeaway was that Croatian children behaved far better at the football than their adult counterparts — and that filling the stands with kids was not taking the sanctions seriously.