Only Harry Kane could drizzle a dose of magic onto the most tepid of England victories.
It is hard to imagine a starker contrast between a forgettable performance at Wembley and the thumping 7-0 win over Croatia in October. In fact, the only recognisable trait from the same opponents was the lack of quality.
Croatia did not try to be inspiring, only insipid. The biggest task facing Thomas Tuchel has been breaking down sides determined to frustrate. Somehow, England’s embarrassment of riches in attack nearly always prevails. It was always going to require a moment of quality to unpick a stubborn defence – an exquisite pass from Kane that showed exactly why he has been crowned the world’s greatest player.
England’s opener was perhaps one of the ugliest goals they have scored in recent memory. Josko Gvardiol made a mess of Jude Bellingham’s ball in for Morgan Rogers – but it was Kane’s pass in the build-up, sprayed out to the right from a deeper role to find Bellingham, that cut open Croatia.
The reasons for Kane’s Ballon d’Or win are many but his ability to play balls into such dangerous positions is unrivalled. It was as good as his cutthroat recent pass in the Champions League against Arsenal – no other forward right now is capable of pulling it off so spectacularly, so often. He was doing it for years at Tottenham before it was fully recognised at Bayern Munich.
Kane is honoured with a tifo at Wembley (Photo: PA)That good work was almost undone by a hapless moment from Jarell Quansah as he headed a corner back towards Jordan Pickford and into the path of Petar Sucic. There was nothing a retreating Kane could have done – but he did put England back in front from the spot within five minutes after Quansah was pulled down by Ivan Smolcic.
The penalty was Kane’s 27th for England and his 92nd international goal. Those numbers are just as remarkable as the record 126 caps celebrated before kick-off. Luka Modric presented the captain with a historic Croatian football against a backdrop of a giant tifo unfurled at one end beneath the famous arch.
After years of being criminally underappreciated, Kane is getting his flowers all at once. Before the summer it could not be said with any certainty whether he would be the man to lead England into the next European Championship. At the age of 33 he is showing no sign of slowing down.
Nor are Tuchel’s England. It is now 41 goals in 17 games this calendar year and 16 in five Nations League matches so far. There is still a question mark over how England keep up momentum on nights like these when the whole game feels like it is being played in second gear.
Tuchel did not use it to experiment with fringe players to the extent he might have done, though Ben White, Rio Ngumoha and James Garner were all given minutes from the bench. Garner even thought he had added a third before it was chalked off for offside.
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It has become a tired trope that White does not want to play for his country when he has been brought back into the fold by a new manager, hinting that supporters “don’t know the full story” behind his previous absences. Time to move on – especially with uncertainty surrounding the defence.
It required a late Quansah block and some wry finishing from Croatia – without which the visitors might have taken a sobering point.
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