England leave it late to overcome Tunisia
Group G
Tunisia 1-2 England
England captain Harry Kane scored twice including a stoppage-time winner as he led his side to a last-gasp 2-1 win over Tunisia in their opening World Cup match.
Kane stooped at the far post to turn in a header in the 91st minute just when it looked like England were going to extend their disappointing run in World Cup tournaments.
Kane had put England ahead in the 11th minute of the Group G game when Tunisia keeper Mouez Hassen could only palm a strong header by John Stones on to the foot of the striker.
England promised to launch their campaign with attacking football and they tore into Tunisia before and after Kane’s opener, creating a string of chances only to be let down by a lack of composure in front of goal.
They paid the price when the North Africans were rightly awarded a penalty before the break.
England defender Kyle Walker needlessly swung an arm behind him and caught Fakhreddine Ben Youssef in the face and Colombia referee Wilmar Roldan pointed to the spot.
Ferjani Sassi, after appearing to whisper a prayer to himself, scored low to the right of England keeper Jordan Pickford to equalise.
England did have penalty appeals of their own and twice Kane appeared to be grappled to the ground at corners, but neither the referee or VAR officials saw fit to award anything.
After the break, England struggled to maintain the intensity of the opening period and Tunisia looked more comfortable as they contained their opponents’ attack until Kane’s winner.
England appeared to be short on ideas and creativity as the match wore on and manager Gareth Southgate will be concerned that his side had so much possession but created so little.
Kieran Trippier and Ashley Young failed with free-kicks as England displayed a worrying lack of composure in front of goal.
However Kane was in the right place at the right time in the dying minutes of the match.
From a Kieran Trippier corner, a glancing header from Harry Maguire found Kane at the back post and he cleverly nodded home to give England a winning start.
It is the first time England have opened a major tournament with a win since 2006 but it did not need to be this hard.
England continue their quest for qualification from Group G when they travel to Nizhny Novgorod to face Panama on Sunday. Tunisia play Belgium a day earlier in Moscow.
Man of the Match – Harry Kane (England)
Substitutions:
Tunisia –
- Mouez Hassen replaces Farouk Ben Mustapha 15 mins
- Mohamed Ben Amor replaces Naim Sliti 74 mins
- Saber Khalifa replaces Wahbi Khazri 85 mins
England –
- Marcus Rashford replaces Raheem Sterling 68 mins
- Ruben Loftus-Cheek replaces Dele Alli 80 mins
- Eric Dier replaces Jesse Lingard 90 mins
Yellow cards:
England – Kyle Walker
Referee: Wilmar Roldan (Colombia)
