Croatia 0-7 England: Tuchel's forwards dazzle in seismic Nations League win

England turned in a devastating attacking performance to rout Croatia 7-0 in a remarkable Nations League encounter in Rijeka on Saturday.

Amid a bizarre atmosphere generated by a crowd made up almost entirely of schoolchildren, due to restrictions imposed on Croatia by UEFA, Thomas Tuchel's forwards effectively had the game won by half-time.

Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Anthony Gordon and Bukayo Saka were all on target before the break, with Kane and Saka getting another goal apiece in the second half and Morgan Rogers coming off the bench to get in on the act. 

As they did in the second half of the teams' previous meeting, at the World Cup in June, England came flying out of the traps. On his first senior start, Alex Scott fed Bellingham on the edge of the area, and when the Real Madrid star slipped in Kane, he lifted his finish into the top-left corner for an eighth-minute opener.

Dominik Livakovic denied his Barcelona team-mate Gordon on two occasions either side of that goal, but a tremendous piece of skill from the winger led to England doubling their lead in the 21st minute.

Gordon plucked Saka's overhit cross out of the air with a glorious touch on the outside of his right boot, then centred for Bellingham to prod into a gaping net.

Both Saka and Gordon missed opportunities to add a quickfire third for England, but the visitors' relentless attacking play was rewarded again in the 39th minute, with Gordon darting in at the far post to nod Jarell Quansah's cross home. 

Mateo Kovacic somehow failed to get Croatia back into the contest when he rounded Pickford and sliced wide of a completely unguarded goal, and it was 4-0 on the stroke of half-time as Gordon and Bellingham linked up on the left, with the latter providing a pinpoint delivery from which Saka could not miss.

And if Slaven Bilic hoped England might ease up after the interval, the Croatia boss was mistaken. Elliot Anderson played a superb give-and-go with Saka before steering a cross in from the right, with Kane sliding in to secure his brace in the 53rd minute.  

Bellingham passed up a chance to make it 6-0 before the hour mark, but Josip Stanisic soon gifted England another goal. He planted a dismal pass straight into the chest of Saka inside the area, and after an exchange of passes with Kane, the winger finished into the top-left corner.

Saka should have had the match ball when he lifted a cross from Rogers over the crossbar, but the latter joined the fun three minutes from time, having rounded Livakovic following Bellingham's defence-splitting pass.

Magnificent seven as Three Lions feast on crumbling Croatia

There was plenty of frustration about the way Tuchel reined in England's attackers when it mattered at the World Cup, but he has let them strut their stuff at the start of this new cycle.

Before Saturday, Croatia's record defeat was a 6-0 loss in Spain eight years ago, and they had never lost at home by a margin greater than three goals. Here, they were arguably fortunate to only concede seven – England racked up 6.14 expected goals (xG) to their 1.37.

In front of just 100 travelling fans, all of England's front four were at their brilliant best. Kane's brace took him to 11 international goals this year, making him the first player to reach double figures in three different calendar years for the Three Lions (also 12 in 2019 and 16 in 2021).

Kane and Gordon are the first pair of players to score in three straight games for England since November 2019, when Kane achieved the same feat alongside Marcus Rashford.

Bellingham's goal was perhaps the pick of the bunch, with Gordon doing brilliantly to tee him up at the end of a 27-pass move – the most for any England goal in the Nations League.

Bellingham also became the first England player to record three assists in a single game since Trent Alexander-Arnold versus San Marino in November 2021, while Saka scored twice with his right foot in a senior match for the first time, in 378 outings for club and country.

England have one more game to play in this international break, against Czechia at Wembley on Tuesday, when three points could all but secure a spot in the quarter-finals next March.