England banish 24-year ghost in World Cup victory over Croatia

England secured the best possible start to the 2026 World Cup and their hunt for their second title, 60 years on from their first, as they beat Croatia 4-2.

Thomas Tuchel’s side found their European counterparts a sticky challenge as they entered the halftime break level at 2-2, with Harry Kane scoring a brace for them in the first half.

However, second-half goals from Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford helped them collect all three points in their opening fixture of the tournament, putting them in a strong position to secure the top spot in the group.

English fans will be pleased with the performance from their team and will see this as a platform in which to build towards lifting the World Cup trophy.

One thing that has constantly been thrown England’s direction over the last two decades, particularly during the Gareth Southgate era, was their inability to beat the major powers in the footballing world.

England kit

At the 2022 World Cup, they were eliminated by France, and in the 2018 tournament, they would be beaten by Croatia in the semifinal, with both sides going on to lose the final in that respective iteration of the competition.

Southgate rebuilt the England side from the team that suffered humiliating eliminations from the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 European Championships.

Now, Tuchel has built upon that as he has brought to an end a 24-year ghost and, in the process, could have given confidence to the fans that this year might be their year.

The reason for this is that this was England’s first World Cup win against a side ranked inside of FIFA’s top 15 in the rankings (Croatia, 11th) since 2002, when they beat Argentina, who were ranked third, ending a nine-game winless run and six-game losing run against such sides in the finals.

While it could be argued that Croatia are not the power they were eight years ago, they are still a strong opponent, and England must be given credit for the result, as they will have silenced the doubters, at least partially, with this victory, proving they can in fact beat a big team at the World Cup.