England scored 7 goals against Croatia, an unusual streak for Yamal
In the Nations League group stage, the next matches of the 3rd round took place: Modrić apologized after the match against England, Yamal scored a quick goal for the third consecutive match, and a dog interrupted the match between Switzerland and North Macedonia.
England thrashed Croatia with 7 goals, Yamal's unusual streak
Croatia – England 0:7
Kane, 8 (0:1). Bellingham, 21 (0:2). Gordon, 39 (0:3). Saka, 45 (0:4). Kane, 53 (0:5). Saka, 68 (0:6). Rogers, 87 (0:7)
Croatia: Livakovic, Gvardiol, Vuskovic, Perisic, Stanisic (Sutalo, 76), Kovacic, Modric (Jakic, 57), Sucic (Vlasic, 46), Baturina (Pasalic, 46), Ivanovic, Musa (Matanovic, 46)
England: Pickford, Konsa, Guehi, Hall (Lewis-Skelly, 79), Quansah, Scott (Rogers, 70), Anderson (Gibbs-White, 79), Bellingham, Gordon (Garner, 70), Saka, Kane (Eze, 70)
Warning: Kovacic, 68
Croatia is painfully experiencing a generational shift and the departure of Zlatko Dalic, the main architect of the team's achievements over the last decade.
The English achieved a very easy victory in the match played on the famous opponent's pitch. Everything was decided in the first half. First, City defender Josko Gvardiol made a mistake leading to a goal for the second consecutive game. The visitors, who took the ball from him in the center of the pitch, launched a counterattack, which ended with Bellingham setting up Harry Kane for a goal.
Kane scored a brace and provided an assist on this day, Jude Bellingham recorded 1+3, Bukayo Saka 2+1, and Anthony Gordon 1+1. Morgan Rogers, who came off the bench, made the final score 7:0 in the 87th minute.
England manager Thomas Tuchel went to Croatia manager Slaven Bilic after the seventh goal to support him.
After the match, Croatia captain Luka Modric apologized to the fans: "Without a fight, without dedication, without fouls, without team unity. I have been playing here for 20 years and I must say that for the first time after a match, I am ashamed. Losing can be accepted – they were stronger, but losing in this manner and losing your reputation like this is unacceptable. For the first time in 20 years, I am truly ashamed. We don't need to point fingers at each other, we have to go through this together as always. We have lost matches by large margins, but the feelings after this game are completely different. I have never been in such a situation. I apologize."
This was the England national team's biggest victory in the last three years. In 2023, the team also scored 7 unanswered goals against North Macedonia in the Euro 2024 qualifiers. England has won by a larger margin only twice in the 21st century: in matches against San Marino in 2013 and 2021, with scores of 8:0 and 10:0 respectively. But the level of the opponents is completely different.