Rampant England fires seven past hapless Croatia

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Amid a bizarre atmosphere generated by a crowd made up almost entirely of schoolchildren, owing to restrictions imposed on Croatia by UEFA, Thomas Tuchel's forwards effectively had the game won by half-time.

Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Anthony Gordon and Bukayo Saka were all on target before the break, with Kane and Saka getting another goal apiece in the second half and Morgan Rogers coming off the bench to get in on the act.

As it did in the second half of the teams' previous meeting, at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in June, England came flying out of the traps.

On his first senior start, Alex Scott fed Bellingham on the edge of the area, and when the Real Madrid star slipped in Kane, he lifted his finish into the top-left corner for an eighth-minute opener.

Dominik Livakovic denied his Barcelona team-mate Gordon on two occasions either side of that goal, but a tremendous piece of skill from the winger led to England doubling its lead in the 21st minute.

Gordon plucked Saka's overhit cross out of the air with a glorious touch on the outside of his right boot, then centred for Bellingham to prod into a gaping net.

Both Saka and Gordon missed opportunities to add a quick-fire third for England, but the visitors' relentless attacking play was rewarded again in the 39th minute, with Gordon darting in at the far post to nod Jarell Quansah's cross home.

Mateo Kovacic somehow failed to get Croatia back into the contest when he rounded Pickford and sliced wide of a completely unguarded goal, and it was 4-0 on the stroke of half-time as Gordon and Bellingham linked up on the left, with the latter providing a pinpoint delivery from which Saka could not miss.

If Slaven Bilic hoped England might ease up after the interval, the Croatia boss was mistaken. Elliot Anderson played a superb give-and-go with Saka before steering a cross in from the right, with Kane sliding in to secure his brace in the 53rd minute.

Bellingham passed up a chance to make it 6-0 before the hour mark, but Josip Stanisic soon gifted England another goal. He planted a dismal pass straight into the chest of Saka inside the area, and after an exchange of passes with Kane, the winger finished into the top-left corner.

Saka should have had the match ball when he lifted a cross from Rogers over the crossbar, but the latter joined the fun three minutes from time, having rounded Livakovic after Bellingham's defence-splitting pass.

But Saka praised the Three Lions for their relentless approach and refusal to ease off the gas after half-time.

"It was an amazing night. We came out from the start and we were on top," he said. "We played with high energy, high spirit and we punished them.

"We enjoyed that performance. It was special and it was really fun to play in. We played with energy and we were really clinical today, which made the difference.

"Scoring two goals for England is always a nice feeling, so I'm really happy with that.

"I think we showed the hunger, passion and quality that we have. It was a mixture of everything. It's everything we were looking for, so we're really proud and we want to finish strongly on Tuesday [Wednesday AEDT].

"There's still three games left, but that will definitely give us a massive boost in confidence and momentum."

Saka also reserved high praise for his team-mate Bellingham, who stole the show with his goal and three assists.

"He was amazing tonight, to be fair. He deserved to be our player of the year and he probably deserves man of the match tonight as well," Saka said.

"He was special. I'm so happy to play with him and to have him in the England team."

Saka wasn't done there, also heaping praise upon Gordon, who has been directly involved in a goal on each of his past five England appearances.

"He's another player who's also on fire in an England shirt," Saka said. "It's nice to have players like that around you, putting in performances like tonight."

Before Sunday (AEDT), Croatia's record defeat was a 6-0 loss in Spain eight years ago, and it had never lost at home by a margin greater than three goals. Here, they were arguably fortunate to only concede seven.

England has one more game to play in this international window, against Czechia at Wembley on Wednesday (AEDT), when three points could all but secure a spot in the quarter-finals next March.