Harry Kane marked his 126th England appearance by scoring the penalty that settled a 2-1 Nations League win over Croatia at Wembley, overtaking Peter Shilton as the nation’s most capped men’s player on a night built around him.
The ceremony came thick and fast before kick-off. Kane walked out with his four children, a giant tifo behind one of the goals acclaimed him as “England’s finest”, and he hoisted aloft his Ballon d’Or trophy. Shilton, Luka Modric and Prince William then made presentations, bearing respectively a small trinket, a replica of the first football brought to Croatia in 1880 and a commemorative framed Kane shirt. Rarely has so much been handed out so swiftly, and the Wembley crowd that followed it slumbered once the game began.
England had demolished Croatia 7-0 in Rijeka last month, the heaviest defeat in Croatia’s history, but this was a different story. Thomas Tuchel’s side were casual, lacking cut and thrust, and the atmosphere was flat. They led midway through the first half through Morgan Rogers. Kane floated a diagonal out to Jude Bellingham on the right-hand side of the Croatia area, Bellingham volleyed over first-time, and Josko Gvardiol got his feet into a tangle, allowing the ball to reach Rogers, who reached back and slashed it down and in from close range.
Tuchel’s most eye-catching selection was Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back ahead of Ben White, and the Real Madrid player got into advanced positions and played some good balls as he tried to quicken the collective pulse. Kane dropped deep to spark England’s moves and even took throw-ins, while Rogers, deployed on the right wing, had licence to get into central attacking areas. It was all rather room temperature: England in control but not an awful lot happening.
After the interval England were sleepwalking. Elliot Anderson played a couple of loose passes, Lewis Hall needed to win a one-versus-one against Igor Matanovic and conceded a corner, and from it came the wake-up call. Gvardiol challenged for the high ball and when it broke, Jarell Quansah tried to head back to Jordan Pickford, a high-risk move, and did not see Petar Sucic, who stretched out a leg to touch home just before the hour for 1-1.
Kane then got a hold of the script. There was a tussle on an England corner inside the Croatia area, Quansah felt Ivan Smolcic tug at his shirt and went down, and the video assistant decided it added up to a penalty rather than Quansah going to ground too easily. Kane delivered with the familiar stutter, clipping the ball up the middle and narrowly avoiding the trailing leg of Dominik Livakovic. It was his 92nd England goal and his 27th successful penalty.
Croatia fought until the end. Nikola Vlasic took a touch and shot just wide in the 82nd minute, Quansah redeemed himself with a saving tackle on the substitute Ante Budimir, and James Garner, on as a substitute, had the ball in the net only for Bellingham to be flagged offside. White was booed when he came on to replace Alexander-Arnold.
England are guaranteed a place in the quarter-finals of the competition in March and will go to Madrid to play Spain on Sunday with a shot at winning the group, which would require beating the world champions and, on this evidence, playing considerably better than they did here.