Harry Kane Rescues England Against Tunisia
England have captain Harry Kane to thank for saving their blushes against Tunisia in their World Cup opener on Monday.
After stating his desire to win the Golden Boot, Harry Kane got off to a fine start. The Tottenham striker scored two goals against Tunisia to help secure a 2 – 1 win.
Pundits expected a tight game between England and Tunisia, and that prediction was correct. England struggled for most of the game against their tenacious opponents, despite starting well.
England began the game confidently, opening the scoring on the 11th minute. Tunisia keeper Mouez Hassen failed to deal with a John Stones header on a corner, and Harry Kane capitalized. The ball fell to him at the far post and he turned the ball into the net.
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It was a just reward for England’s dominant start, although they failed to capitalize. Jesse Lingard, John Stones and Raheem sterling were all guilty of missing good opportunities to score. Dele Alli saw a deflected header hit the post while Jordan Henderson saw a tame shot saved by the keeper.
After this initial strong spell, England lost the initiative and Tunisia came back into it. In the 35th minute, Kyle Walker gave away a penalty. The incident went to VAR review and showed a blatant shove by Kyle Walker in the box.
It was a clumsy challenge by the full-back Walker. He was playing in an unfamiliar position as the right center back in a back three and that was costly.
Ferjani Sassi converted the penalty and from that point on it was a competitive game. Despite their obvious superior talent, England couldn’t get their game going again.
Tunisia, buoyed by their equaliser, defended stoutly and caused England problems on the break.
The match looked as if it was heading to another typical English underperformance in the World Cup, until the last minute. Kane was well positioned in the box to head home after a deflected corner and seal the 3 points for England.
England scored more than once for first time in 10 World Cup matches, and move on to face Panama next. They will now feel confident of a win, given that Panama were comfortably dispatched 3 – 0 by Belgium earlier in the day.
