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England's 2026 World Cup opener began with an early opportunity for Croatia, as Josip Sutalo struck an acrobatic volley over the bar from a corner.
Harry Kane won England a corner of their own with the Three Lions' first shot attempt — controlling a bouncing ball on the spin before a deflection sent it wide.
From that corner, Luka Modric gave away a penalty in the scuffle, with Kane, who scored all but one of his spot kick attempts for Bayern Munich since joining in 2023, missing his first attempt.
Why was Harry Kane's penalty taken again?
Despite the initial belief that it was Croatian goalkeeper, Dominik Livakovic, who prompted the re-take, that wasn't fully the case.
Livakovic saved Kane's penalty, an unusually poor effort placed to the Croatian's left, and was believed to have left his line early.
This was due to Kane's stuttering run-up, a common tactic employed by spot kick takers to see where the goalkeeper is moving to.
Despite this, Livakovic kept a foot planted on the line, making his 'movement' dubious.
All doubts over whether the penalty needed to be re-taken, however, were dispelled by an encroaching Croatia defender.
After Livakovic's save, his Croatian team-mates surged into the box and cleared the loose ball for a corner.
Upon replays, it was clear that Josko Gvardiol had reached the ball only because of his box encroachment, constituting an offence.
Harry Kane converts the penalty for England! 🎯The skipper scores from the spot after a retake for encroachment pic.twitter.com/Pd6ayH6EvRJune 17, 2026
The final decision was attributed to both offences — Livakovic being off his line for the save and encroachment from the defender.
As a result, the Bayern Munich striker stepped up and did what he so often does best: scored the penalty, cheekily placing it in the same spot that Livrakovic had saved the ball from last time out.
England are no strangers to starting World Cup tournaments strongly at the last two editions, and neither is Harry Kane.
The Three Lions prevailed 6-2 over Iran in 2022, with Kane recording two assists, and won 2-1 against Tunisia in 2018, with the 32-year-old bagging a brace.
