England put Luka Modric’s Croatia through an ordeal in the Nations League (7-0), completely overwhelmed on Saturday in Rijeka against wild visitors behind their attacking leaders, Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham.
“I think we showed the hunger, the passion and the quality that we have. This performance was a mixture of everything we are looking for as an England team,” reacted Bukayo Saka on ITV Sport.
The Three Lions (2nd, 6 points) have a second success in a row, after that acquired on Tuesday in Prague (2-0).
The meeting, planned behind closed doors for disciplinary reasons, was played in front of more than 6,000 children invited by the Croatian federation, as authorized by the regulations, and in front of around a hundred visiting supporters.
The latter enjoyed themselves with doubles from Kane (8th, 53rd) and Saka (45th, 68th), a goal from the in-form Anthony Gordon (39th), another from N.10 Jude Bellingham (21st) – also credited with three assists – and a last one from the incoming Morgan Rogers (87th).
Kane, 21 goals in 22 matches
The English, in steamroller mode, offered coach Thomas Tuchel the conquering and suffocating face he wants to see, without releasing the embrace from start to finish.
Opposite, Slaven Bilic’s team completely exploded in flight because of an overwhelmed defense, in agony against the opposing pressure.
The opening score illustrated this: catastrophic throw from Josko Gvardiol intercepted by Marc Guéhi, unopposed breakthrough from Alex Scott, pass through a mouse hole from Bellingham for Kane, impeccable in his control-shot sequence.
As an offensive leader, Bellingham once again did wonders with his determination and precision. The Real Madrid player scored by cutting out a cross from Gordon (21st) and delivered three assists in total, including those for Saka (45th) and Rogers (87th).
Gordon also extended his golden period with a third goal in three matches, with a diving header after a rebound from a cross from Jarell Quansah, preferred to Trent Alexander-Arnold at right back (39th, 3-0).
The Croats only got their heads out of the water a handful of minutes before half-time, but their good streak was spoiled by an incredible miss from Mateo Kovacic (41st).
Returning from the locker room, they only lasted eight minutes, time for Kane to secure his double on a cross from Eliott Anderson (53rd, 5-0). This now makes 21 goals in his last 22 caps for the England captain.
“It was a performance of the highest level, from everyone, from the first to the last minute, from all the starters and all the starters, congratulations to the team,” commented a delighted Tuchel.
41 matches for La Roja
Guided again by its prodigy Lamine Yamal, Spain, reigning world champion, continued the celebration on Saturday against the Czech Republic (3-1) for its second home match since its coronation, during the third day of the Nations League.
Despite a great scare at the end of the match, the La Roja players imposed their law on Oviedo, at the Carlos Tartiere stadium, and extended their crazy streak of invincibility to 41 matches thanks to a superb curling strike from Lamine Yamal (6th, 1-0), a perfect finish from the Spanish captain Rodri (35th, 2-0) and an opportunistic recovery from Mikel Merino (89th, 3-1).
Luis De la Fuente’s men, winners of their first three matches, thus retain first place in Group 3 ahead of England (2nd, 6 points), who had just improved their goal difference in Croatia (7-0).
To explain the drop in performance of his players in the second half, the Spanish coach highlighted the “difficult balance” between the “need to win” and “prioritizing the health of the players” to avoid injuries, with matches every three days.
He also recognized that his team, largely overhauled with nine changes compared to the one that beat Croatia on Tuesday (4-1), had “suffered a lot” at several moments of the meeting, something they were “no longer used to”.
Lamine Yamal still pressed
The gifted Barcelona Lamine Yamal, already a scorer in the second minute against England (3-2) and Croatia (4-1), this time had to wait until the sixth to make his left paw speak (6th, 1-0) and launch La Roja into the game, with a fourth goal in three matches.
“He continues to surprise us day by day. I believe he has so much talent, so many qualities, that the best Lamine is yet to come. It continues to grow by leaps and bounds. He is already a reference at the international level, and he is becoming a legendary player,” his coach praised him.
His new teammate at Barça Rodri, who had presented the World Cup to the Asturian public before the match accompanied by Juan Mata and Santi Cazorla, made the break with the flat of his right foot at the end of a rapid transition (35th, 2-0).
But the world champions seriously slowed down in the second half, after the exits of Lamine Yamal and Alex Baena, and were almost surprised by the players of Santi Denia, former coach of Spain U21 and Olympic champion in Paris in 2024.
Czech fullback Jiri Slama thus reduced the score at the end of the race with a cross shot from the left (2-1, 69th), and striker Ryan Naderi thought he could equalize by taking advantage of a big hand fault from Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya (79th), but his goal was canceled for an obstruction at the entrance to the area.
A warning without consequences for La Roja, still undefeated in official competition since 2023 and in an ideal position to turn during the last match of this window in Croatia, in Split, Tuesday.
