Tunisia 1-2 England: Two Harry Kane goals give Southgate a winning start in Russia

Football

Mon June 18, 2018 · 7y ago

Captain Harry Kane's injury time header gave England a 2-1 win over Tunisia in their World Cup opener in Volgograd.

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Kane scored twice on the night, firstly giving England a deserved lead after just 11 minutes of a fantastic start from Gareth Southgate's men, during which they missed several good chances.

England were left to rue a catalogue of missed opportunities as they were pegged back by a Ferjani Sassi penalty just after the half-hour mark, which really took the wind out of their sails.

Tunisia kept England quiet in the second half and stifled most of their attacking intent, and it looked like being a frustrating draw until Kane popped up at the back post from a corner to seal a vital three points for England, who are now 12/1 to win the World Cup.

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Harry Kane is now clear second favourite at 5/1 to win the World Cup Golden Boot award as he joined Romelu Lukaku on two goals, just one behind Cristiano Ronaldo - who remains the 9/4 favourite.

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England could have earlier killed off the game inside the opening half an hour as they ran Tunisia ragged with the likes of Raheem Sterling, Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard combining for a host of clear cut chances that all three were guilty of wasting.

A questionable penalty decision against Kyle Walker made matters worse, as did the repeated manhandling of Kane inside the Tunisian box going unpunished by referee Wilmar Roldan - and the host of VAR officials back in Moscow.

Kane eventually popped up with the winner though as he pounced on Harry Maguire's header from a corner to nod home and get England off to a winning start.

England reaction

"It's massive. I'm so proud of the lads," Kane told BBC Sport. "I thought we played really well, especially in the first half, and deserved to be ahead.

"We could have scored a few more and then obviously - I've not seen the penalty back but from my point of view it didn't look like one.

"Credit to the lads, we kept going. That's what these games are about - it's a World Cup, you go until the last second and I'm absolutely buzzing."

Southgate reserved special praise for two-goal striker Kane, but was keen to insist that it was the team performance that got England through.

"He's a top, top striker isn't he," Southgate said of Kane. "I'm delighted for him because if he doesn't score tonight we'd be asking questions about him not scoring goals in tournament football.

"It's great that we've got him in the team and he took his goals really well. I think it's a night where it's difficult to highlight individuals because it was a collective.

"The squad have been brilliant. The team selection was so difficult and to bring those substitutes on and them to have the impact they did.

"But we've got this result over the last three weeks, not just tonight, and that's been down to everybody that's trained so hard and worked so hard together."

Opta Facts

England scored more than once for the first time in 10 World Cup matches, since a 2-2 draw against Sweden in 2006.
Tunisia are winless in their last 12 World Cup matches (D4 L8), since winning their first ever match in the competition in 1978 (3-1 vs Mexico).
England are unbeaten in their seven meetings with African nations in the World Cup (W4 D3 L0), though this was only the second such match in which they failed to keep a clean sheet.
England had six shots on target in the first half, their most in the opening 45 minutes of a World Cup match since the 1966 semi-final against Portugal (also six). By contrast they had just two shots on target in the second half.
Tunisia scored with their only shot on target in this match, their 35th minute penalty.
Harry Kane has scored in each of his last four games for England, his best ever run for the Three Lions.
Harry Kane has scored 15 goals in 25 appearances for England. The last player to score more in their opening 25 games for England was Gary Lineker (20).
Tunisia’s Ferjani Sassi scored the first penalty goal against England in regular play in a World Cup match since Gabriel Batistuta for Argentina in 1998.
England’s Kieran Trippier created six goalscoring opportunities tonight, more than any other player has managed so far in the 2018 World Cup.
Harry Kane became the first England player to score a brace in a World Cup match since Gary Lineker against Cameroon in 1990.