England pull out wild late winner when Harry Kane scores for second time to beat Tunisia 2-1

For all the hard work Tunisia put in, they switched off for one moment — forgetting to mark Harry Kane at the back post in a corner kick in stoppage time — and their dream for a shock three points over England was gone.

The game began so brightly for England, and it’s hard for anyone to argue that they don’t deserve the win here. They came out flying against Tunisia, getting in behind several times, and were unlucky not to be up two or three goals in the first fifteen minutes. From there Tunisia settled in, and while not entirely looking convincing, at least looked like they belonged on the field.

And then the big decision. On a speculative cross in from Tunisia, Kyle Walker lifted up his arm and caught Tunisia’s Ben Youssef in the face. Penalty. Tunisia took their chance and all of a sudden it was 1-1.

The second half was a slog, with England looking devoid of ideas for much of it. Late subs Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Marcus Rashford injected some energy, however, and it was a set piece in stoppage time where they finally broke through. Kane again, at the back post, unmarked. Goal and game, England.

A corner kick gets to Stones head, saved beautifully by Hassen and then falls to the right foot of Harry Kane, who doesn’t miss from there. Dream start for England.

That’s it for Tunisia goalkeeper Hassen. It appeared he hurt his shoulder when he ran into the post on an earlier corner kick. He made an incredible save on the first Stones header, but he’s been favoring that shoulder for a good portion of this game and that’s it for him, as he walks off in tears.

Kyle Walker is called for elbowing Tunisia’s Ben Youssef in the head on a hopeful cross in, and then Sassi steps up, cooly places it off the fingertips of Jordan Pickford and in. We got a game!

The main talking point is going to be LOL England finishing, and rightly so. They had plenty of chances, and looking back on my notes I’ve seen at least four chances where they easily could have put the ball into the net. Jesse Lingard missed two great chances, Raheem Sterling could’ve had one, John Stones missed a wide open shot from six yards ... they had their chances.

But that’s also underselling slightly how Tunisia settled in to this match. They looked totally overwhelmed in the first 10 minutes, lost their goalkeeper to injury ... and then came out and started playing England straight up for much of the rest of the half. Or maybe not straight up, but certainly not “we’re going to lose by 12,” which is what Tunisia looked like for the first 15 minutes of the match.

The England captain did it. Unreal. A corner kick is fired into the box, won in the air by England, and falls to the back post ... where Kane is waiting, unmarked. All points to him for a calm and beautiful finish past the keeper.