Harry Kane scored twice as England beat Croatia 4-2 in Dallas on 17 June, taking his tally to 10 World Cup goals in 12 appearances and equalling Gary Lineker's England record set across 1986 and 1990 1. Lineker, now a BBC presenter, held the mark alone for 36 years. Kane drew level at 32, with the knockout rounds still to come.
Jude Bellingham restored England's lead two minutes into the second half, joining Pele and Michael Owen as the only men to score at two World Cups before turning 23 2. Marcus Rashford added a fourth after Croatia had twice drawn level through Martin Baturina and Petar Musa. England's 4-2 win is their first by that scoreline at a World Cup since the 1966 final against West Germany, the tournament they won.
The match closed a chapter for the side they beat. Luka Modric, 40 and almost certainly at his last World Cup, conceded the penalty Kane converted and laboured through a poor afternoon. Croatia, the 2018 finalists, now risk an early exit. The result fed the round's wider pattern of records falling across the expanded 48-team field , though England's came in a comfortable win rather than the narrow defeats where most of Wednesday's firsts landed.
