Harry Kane Delivers England's Ticket to Mexico City
- Jason Longshore
- 8 minutes ago
- 5 min read
In the closing minutes of the first half in Atlanta, Harry Kane got in behind the DR Congo defense with goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi beaten and the entire box in front of him. He had the simplest route available after cutting to the outside, running straight into Mpasi's arms and inviting the whistle. Instead he went down early, chasing contact that was never going to arrive. The referee waved play on. It was the correct call, and for a while it looked like the only real chance England were going to get.
However, England did what they have done in three out of four second halves in this World Cup, they elevated their play and made the match theirs. They won 2-1, and both goals came from Kane, the winner a strike that was still rising when it beat Mpasi from the top of the box. It marked the first time England had conceded the operner in a World Cup match and come back to win it since the 1966 final, the result that still sits over every England tournament run as the standard nobody in the shirt has been able to match.
DR Congo Set the Terms Early
The start of the match was chaotic. England's pressure was disruptive and DR Congo took a few minutes to get acclimated. Two minutes into the match, a loose ball put them in trouble in their own third, and it took a recovery run from Arthur Masuaku to stop Noni Madueke from getting in behind. Five minutes later, Congo had the lead.
The goal was built on patient shape rather than a broken play. Yoane Wissa dragged both England center backs toward the right side of the penalty area. Noah Sadiki stepped in from midfield to occupy the space Wissa had vacated, and Djed Spence had to follow Sadiki inside rather than staying with his own winger, Elliot Anderson got lost and left the man free on the back side. Chancel Mbemba, the center back who had joined the attack, sent in a cross that ran through to Brian Cipenga, completely unmarked. Cipenga controlled and drove a low shot past Jordan Pickford at the near post. Seven minutes gone, and DR Congo led a World Cup match against England.
From there, the Leopards defended with real discipline. Mpasi punched away a bending Marcus Rashford cross in the 17th minute, then denied Jude Bellingham's diving header from the top of the six yard box before the half was out. Wissa nearly doubled the lead himself, rattling the post from close range in the 42nd minute. By the first hydration break, England had 56 percent of the ball and had not managed a single shot. DR Congo had more touches inside the England penalty area than England had inside theirs. England improved as the first half went on, but Congo went into the locker room a goal up and full value for it.
Roll With It
There was no single moment that flipped this stretch of the match. What defined it was England's refusal to let one bad half decide anything, absorbing the setback and continuing to build rather than panicking into it. The second half did not open with an immediate breakthrough. By the next hydration break, England were controlling territory again, 62 percent of possession, but had generated only 0.21 expected goals to show for it. Congo were still winning the fight on the ground, taking 8 of 13 duels, and Aaron Wan-Bissaka's defensive header off a Gordon cross was one of several moments where the low block simply held.
What kept building underneath the surface was Djed Spence's driving threat down the right, the right side being the most consistent source of England chances for most of the match. Territory without teeth is not nothing. It is usually the stage before the bite.
Tuchel Found the Right Substitutions
Thomas Tuchel's first move came in the 61st minute, Anthony Gordon on for Rashford and Bukayo Saka on for Madueke. It set the platform but did not change the scoreline right away.
The substitution that actually mattered came nine minutes later. In the 70th minute, Tuchel sent on Eberechi Eze for Spence. Eze did not replace the right side threat Spence had provided. He multiplied it. With Saka and Eze combining down the same flank and Declan Rice shifting over to cover at right back, DR Congo suddenly had a second problem to defend on top of the first. Samuel Moutoussamy had won a string of individual battles out wide to that point, but the picture tilted, and it tilted fast. England scored five minutes later.
Kane's Two Moments of Class
The equalizer, in the 75th minute, came from Rice's cross to the back post, put back into the box by Gordon, and finished by Kane. Axel Tuanzebe followed Kane to the opposite side when the ball went to Gordon, but the English striker was able to pull away from him to the top of the six to head home the cross. It was the reward for the pressure England had been generating without a finish for the better part of twenty minutes.
The winner, in the 86th minute, was the moment of the match. Bellingham drove in behind and forced another save out of Mpasi. The ball came back out to Gordon, who dribbled across to the middle and slipped a pass through to Kane at the top of the box. Kane took it on his favored foot and finished into the roof of the net, the shot still rising when it beat Mpasi. It was the kind of finish that made the missed penalty shout from before halftime feel like it happened weeks ago. Denied once, Kane simply delivered twice.
Next Up: Mexico City
DR Congo did not stop pushing. In the 96th minute, Bellingham fouled Wissa 25 yards out on the left side of the box, the last real chance of the match. Wissa stepped up and drove his free kick over the bar, inches off target on Pickford's side.
The whistle went. England had their comeback from conceding first, the first one this country has produced at a World Cup since 1966. They move on to the Round of 16, where they will play Mexico in Mexico City on Sunday night, another test of whether this England team can keep doing what it has done all tournament: absorb the punch, then find the response.
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