Thomas Tuchel has waited a long time for a night like this. England did not just beat Croatia in Rijeka on Saturday, they dismantled them, running out 7-0 winners in a Nations League performance that was as complete as anything his side have produced since he took charge. Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka scored twice apiece, Jude Bellingham added a goal and three assists, and Anthony Gordon and Morgan Rogers were also on the scoresheet as England recorded their biggest away victory in the team’s history.
It was Kane who got things moving inside eight minutes, finishing calmly after Croatia failed to deal with an early England press. Bellingham doubled the lead on 21 minutes with a goal of real quality, and by the time Gordon made it three just before the half hour mark, Croatia already looked a team with no answers. Saka’s first arrived right on the stroke of half time, turning what had been a comfortable lead into a rout before the interval whistle had even sounded.
The second half brought no let up. Kane struck again shortly after the break to complete his double, and Saka followed with his second on 68 minutes, matching the two goal haul he produced in England’s World Cup bronze medal match against France earlier this year. Morgan Rogers rounded things off late on, turning a one sided win into an outright embarrassment for the hosts. Mateo Kovacic somehow contrived to miss an open goal for Croatia midway through the first half, a moment that summed up a night when nothing went right for the home side.
Kane and Saka Lead the Way
Speaking afterwards, Kane could barely hide his satisfaction with the display. “Unbelievable from start to finish,” he said. “We spoke a lot about having a 90 minute game where, from start to finish, we were just completely dominant, both with the ball and without the ball.” He pointed to the freedom Tuchel’s system gives the front four to interchange. “All four of us are good players, we can play in the tight pockets, it’s so hard for the opposition to pick up.” Saka was similarly pleased. “It was an amazing night for us. From the start, we were top. We played with high energy, high spirit and we punished them.”
Bellingham Pulls the Strings
If Kane and Saka provided the finishing, it was Bellingham who provided the platform. His goal and three assists made him the single biggest influence on the game, repeatedly finding pockets of space between Croatia’s lines and picking out runners with the kind of passing that has made him one of the most complete midfielders in Europe. Jarell Quansah, now a regular at Bayer Leverkusen after his summer move from Liverpool, offered composure in defence, while Alex Scott made his first competitive start for England and looked entirely at home in a side playing with this much confidence.
Tuchel was full of praise for a performance he described as close to the complete package. “That was a 90 minute performance at the highest level from everyone,” he said. “From the first until the last minute, everyone who started and everyone who came from the bench.” He singled out the opening period in particular. “The first 40 minutes we were so fluid from the start. I remember looking at the clock, I thought, this is a good three minutes, and it just kept going.” He added that the mentality behind the performance mattered as much as the scoreline. “We always played humble and always got the basics right.”
Records Tumble in Rijeka
The scale of the win means it will be remembered long after the three points are forgotten. It stands as England’s biggest away victory in their history, and it is Croatia’s heaviest defeat ever recorded, a genuinely significant marker against a side who reached a World Cup final as recently as 2018. Kane’s second goal also extended an extraordinary personal run. According to Sky Sports, it was his sixth successive away England appearance in which he has scored, a feat achieved by only a handful of players before him, with the great Stan Mortensen the last to manage it, back in 1948. Kane now has 121 England caps, leaving him four short of Peter Shilton’s all time record of 125, a landmark he could reach before the end of this international window if he continues to be selected.
For the watching pundits, the manner of the win mattered as much as the scoreline. Roy Keane, never one to hand out easy praise, was unequivocal. “Excellent. All the plaudits have to go to England. They were fantastic,” he said, before turning his attention to Bellingham specifically. “Bellingham can go on to become one of the greatest players of all time.”
What It Means for the Group
The result lifts England to second in Nations League Group A3 on six points from three matches, with a goal difference of plus eight after scoring 11 and conceding just three. Spain remain top and unbeaten with nine points from three games, while Croatia drop to third on three points and Czech Republic prop up the group without a win. England still have work to do if they want to finish top of the group, but a result like this, against a side with Croatia’s pedigree, will have done wonders for belief within the squad after the opening defeat to Spain and a less than convincing win over ten man Czechia.
Tuchel now has a selection headache of the nicest kind heading into the rest of this window, with Quansah, Scott, Gordon and Rogers all giving good accounts of themselves alongside the more established names. For a team that has looked for periods under Tuchel like it was still finding its identity, this was the clearest statement yet of what England can look like when everything clicks at once.
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