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England v Croatia: World Cup 2026 – live | World Cup 2026
Key events
England get the ball rolling. Rice specifically. He rolls back to Pickford, who launches long. Croatia intercept and clear.
A cracking atmosphere in the air-conditioned home of the Dallas Cowboys. Kane and Modric swap merchandise. We’ll be off in a minute. “With all the focus on those mummified ancients in the Croatian midfield, it’s easy to overlook that the back line is, comparatively, a flock of spring chickens,” observes Kári Tulinius. “The fullbacks Šutalo and Stanišić are 26 years of age, two years older than Gvardiol, who’s partnered in defense by the 19-year-old Luka Vušković, which makes him less than half the age of his captain.”
The teams are out, and it’s time for the national anthems. Croatia first. ♪ ♫ ♬ “Our beautiful homeland / O so fearless and gracious / Our fathers’ ancient glory / May you be happy forever … Drava, Sava, keep on flowing! / Danube, do not lose your vigour! / Deep blue sea, tell the world / That a Croat loves his people!” ♪ ♫ ♬
And now it’s England’s turn. ♪ ♫ ♬ “We love Bulldog Bobby / Bulldog Bulldog Bob / We love Bulldog Bobby / He’s everybody’s number-one top dog!” ♪ ♫ ♬
[Narrator: Bulldog Bobby was not everybody’s number-one top dog]
Pre-match postbag: World Cup fever special. “I am imbibing your MBM with a beer on the train from Marylebone to Warwick and feel patriotically bound to inform you that excitement about England’s reasonable chances of victory tonight has reached the driver’s cab on my train. The usual modest tooting of the horn has been replaced by a ‘toot, toot, toot-toot-toot, toot-toot-toot-toot, ENG-LAND’” – Adrian Birch, somewhere around Bicester
“I’m watching this in a bar in the good ol’ USA (Nashville, Tennessee to be precise). It’s 22 years almost to the day that I last watched England v Croatia in an American bar (that day it was San Francisco) in the 2004 Euros, when a young lad called Wayne Rooney tore Croatia apart. Whatever happened to him, I wonder?” – Nick Parish
“First sunny evening for about a week here, so I’m off for a stroll by the Clyde with maybe a stop for a pint and a read. Oh, there’s a game on tonight? Huh” – James Humphries
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that England only win the World Cup when there is a gentleman of Fulham among the assembly. We therefore find it inexplicable that Mr Tuchel did not include young Master King in his party for that would have guaranteed that the honourable Captain Kane lifted the golden bauble. We can only assume that Mr Tuchel is of the opinion that a former gentleman of Fulham will suffice, for how else can one explain the presence of Mr Burn?” – Richard Hirst
“Keith Williams’ sketches are delightful. That’s all I wanted to say!” – Rachel Kelly
“If England lose and it all goes off, the very talented Keith Williams might have to add a slash of Constable red to his renderings” – Ian Copestake
England will play in their first-choice kit of white tonight. Harry Kane will hand over the FA’s stunningly boring pennant.
Croatia are therefore forced into second-choice blue. Always a shame when they’re not bedecked in their world-famous red-and-white checks, but the blue-and-even-darker-blue version is still a sight for sore eyes.
England have played 14 times under Thomas Tuchel. The manager’s record is pretty good: he’s won 11 of those games to the cumulative tune of 29-0. However there’s a fairly big caveat. The other three matches are the only times Tuchel has faced a team from the world’s top 20: England drew with Uruguay and lost to Senegal and Japan, all at home. Croatia are currently ranked 11th on the Fifa list. It’s a trend that needs snapping sooner rather than later if England (ranked world number four, to be fair) are to do anything this summer.
Luka Modric, who made his World Cup debut in 2006, 20 years ago tomorrow, coming on during a goalless draw with Japan, talks to ITV as well. “We did good qualifications … we played well … now is the real deal … we will see where we are at the moment … how good we are … I have a lot of confidence and belief in this team … a lot of young players … still some old guard … let’s see … age is just a number … this is how I see it … for me it’s not important … it’s important how you feel … what you do on the pitch.”
Thomas Tuchel speaks to Independent Television. “This is what we have worked for … the goal of the prep camp … to be ready for the day … I don’t want to be anywhere else in the world … so let’s go … ideal conditions … to play an intensive match … that’s our aim … we stick with the team that started so well against Costa Rica … we will not start and finish this match with 11 players … we need a strong bench … we have players who can influence and change matches from the bench … that is important … it was a 50-50 call to go with Jude [instead of Morgan Rogers] … I expected Mateo Kovacic to start so we have one slight tweak … we need to adapt our press … we are prepared for that … we are at the starting line … we let the players go and take the next steps.”
… so Jude Bellingham does indeed get the nod at 10 over Morgan Rogers. Anthony Gordon has been selected ahead of Marcus Rashford on the left, while Noni Madueke patrols the other flank; Bukayo Saka, not 100 percent fit, remains wrapped up safely on the bench. Ezri Konsa starts alongside John Stones in the centre of defence.
Croatia captain Luka Modric, 40, is about to appear at his fifth World Cup. He wins his 199th cap tonight. Ivan Perišić will make do with his 155th cap. Mateo Kovacic is on the bench and dreaming of cap number 114.
The teams
England: Pickford, Konsa, O’Reilly, Stones, James, Rice, Anderson, Bellingham, Kane, Gordon, Madueke.
Croatia: Livakovic, Stanisic, Gvardiol, Sutalo, Vuskovic, Modric, Mario Pasalic, Baturina, Petar Sucic, Perisic, Musa.
Way out west east. While the soccer stars get ready to rumble in Texas, art has broken out in Shoreditch, east London. “Dunno if it’s of interest but I’m sketching the England fans at the Old Blue Last,” writes Keith Williams, and very nice his work is too. Enjoy, observe, interpret, comprehend, appreciate, etc.
Some more scene-setting from our folk in Arlington. This comes to you from Guardian football writer and occasional meteorologist / retail trends analyst Ed Aarons.
It’s going to be a hot one at the Dallas Stadium for England’s opening game of the World Cup against Croatia, with temperatures expected to exceed 33 degrees when the game kicks off. Thankfully there is air conditioning throughout with a capacity crowd of 70,000 expected. Lots of England and Croatia fans have been gathering over the road from one of the entrances outside a Walmart, which I would imagine is much cheaper than buying drinks inside Fifa-land …
Some early team news. Courtesy of our man on the spot, Jacob Steinberg.
As predicted in today’s Super Soaraway Guardian, Jude Bellingham gets the nod at No10 for England. Anthony Gordon and Noni Madueke are on the flanks, with the latter preferred to Bukayo Saka, who’s been trying to shake off an Achilles problem. Ezri Konsa is picked over Marc Guehi in central defence too.
Time To Kill pt III. Our comprehensive Player Guide features every single player going to North America this summer, with potted bios written by experts from all around the world. Contains no trace of Trent Alexander-Arnold, and that’s an Official Guardian Guarantee™.
Time To Kill pt II. Bracketology allows you to curate your very own World Cup pipe dream. Click yon, drag hither, plot a route, reconfigure. Or if you’ve not got that much precious time to waste, hit shuffle and see what pops up. I’ve just done that and Curaçao have beaten Iraq in the final. Once again – because it’s the second time I’ve tested and trailed the shuffle feature – England didn’t get out of their group, and I’m beginning to suspect the coding for this was done in Glasgow. Anyway, it’s good fun, so get on it!
Time To Kill pt I. You want preview pieces? We got preview pieces.
Preamble
It’s day seven of the 2026 World Cup, and finally England are on their way. They are Tom’s 26. Hear the roar, of the red, white and … ah who remembers that cheesy old song anyway? Point is, after an interminable wait, England are at long last getting down to business.
Whether they’d have hand-picked Croatia as their first opponents is a moot point. On the one hand, England are a young and vibrant team, the sap rising, while most of Croatia’s first choice are in their 30s and their captain and talisman Luka Modric is now into his fifth decade. But on the other, this is a team that reached the final in 2018 and the semis last time round, and all of that Croatian experience has got to count for something.
There’s also the small matter of the head to head. England have won the last two meetings between the countries, in November 2018 and at Euro 2020, but the big ones that really counted went Croatia’s way – in Euro 2008 qualifying and the 2018 World Cup semi – and those results cut deep. So yes, England would have probably preferred to start their campaign against Panama or Ghana, but here we all are. Can England get it right this time? Kick off is at 9pm BST, 3pm at the home of the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas. It’s on!
The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.
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Key events
In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.
Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.
“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “
News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.
Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.
The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.
The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.
An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.
In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.
For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:
“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.
“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”
Saturday’s match reports here.
The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.
“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against Cape Verde.
“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.
“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.
“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.
“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”
The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.
The teams – Lamine Yamal starts
Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.
Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?
Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.
Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat
The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.
The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.
Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.
Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.
Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.
A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.
Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP
Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?
Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.
Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.
“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”
A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.
“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”
We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.
The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.
Preamble
Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.
Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.
A topless man can be seen driving erratically in Edinburgh before abandoning his car and attacking a black man and a delivery rider.
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