England vs Tunisia: Harry Kane's brace stage dramatic win for Three Lions
England and Belgium are off the mark in Group G with a win and both sides can qualify for the knock-out stage in their next matches, while Tunisia face a vital contest against Belgium on Sunday.
England manage a hard-earned victory against a stubborn Tunisia as thanks to a dramatic late winner by Harry Kane. The Tottenham man's brace blow away the North African country in the second match of group G. The closely fought encounter was plagued with miss-passes and ball possession swayed between the two teams frequently. The creativity in midfield and outstanding work rate helped the Three Lions to battle back from an imminent draw.
A brace from captain Kane showed that how important the Tottenham man is for England's success in the tournament. He had shared his desire to emulate Cristiano Ronaldo with a hat-trick of goals. He managed to score a brace but this, undoubtedly, was the biggest moment yet of his international career that gave England’s opening game the happy ending it deserved.
Kane was lurking unmarked, to head in Harry Maguire’s flick-on and, ultimately, nobody could say the result was unjust. The goal made a huge difference as an imminent draw threatened serious ramifications for the rest of Group G.
England were quick on the ball, slick with their passing and attacked with vigour. The pressure on Tunisia was huge but the failure to finish in the attacking third helped Tunisia to hold the scores level till the dying moments of the match.
Kane opened the scoresheet from a corner but Tunisia’s equaliser came from a penalty termed 'controversial' from England’s perspective. Kyle Walker's jutting arm hit Fakhredinne Ben Youssef in the 34th minute that resulted into the penalty.
Southgate's men argued that it was intentional but Walker has a habit of disrupting players this way and on this occasion it backfired. Ferjani Sassi took the penalty, beating Jordan Pickford to the goalkeeper’s right. And, suddenly, England were level again in a game they had been dominating.
John Stones wasted a gilt-edged chance shortly after Tunisia’s penalty, with Dele Alli’s looping back-header being turned against the crossbar moments earlier, and there was also some splendid goalkeeping from Mouez Hassen before he was forced off with a shoulder injury.
Hassen’s reflexes had denied Lingard after only two minutes and Tunisia’s goalkeeper was highly unfortunate for England’s goal.
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