Croatia’s stadium was full of schoolchildren for the visit of England in the Nations League and it was men against boys as the Three Lions battered the hosts 7-0.
The fixture at the Rijeka Stadium on Saturday evening was meant to be played behind closed doors as a UEFA punishment for crowd disturbances – including alleged Nazi gestures and the setting off of fireworks – during Croatia’s Nations League quarter-final encounter with France in March 2025. But due to a loophole, 6,000 schoolchildren, accompanied by adults, were allowed to attend, making for an extremely odd atmosphere with a chorus of high-pitched, screaming voices.
But it didn’t unsettle the visitors as the Three Lions followed up a 2-0 win over the Czech Republic on Tuesday by taking a shockingly weak Croatia to pieces in the first half. “I can’t believe what I’m watching,” said ITV pundit Roy Keane at the interval after a dismal defensive display from Slaven Bilic’s side, which allowed England to rack up a 4-0 lead thanks to goals from Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Anthony Gordon and Bukayo Saka.
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Bilic made three changes at the break, in a desperate attempt to inject some intensity and combativeness into his lacklustre charges. This will be a chastening defeat for the West Ham legend, who may lose his job. Within minutes Kane had added his second goal and England’s fifth, before Saka also recorded a brace to go 6-0 ahead. Late on, Morgan Rogers made it seven.
Tuchel had handed opportunities to Newcastle left-back Lewis Hall and Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott on the left flank of a 4-3-3 behind Anthony Gordon, while he also selected Bayer Leverkusen’s Jarrell Quansah at right-back. Marc Guehi and Ezri Konsa formed a solid centre-back pairing.
Ahead of the game the German boss had praised Scott, only the third serving Bournemouth player to appear for England, stating: “He did so well in training and he did so well when he had his debut. He brings the full package. He has legs. He’s good in defending, good in the high press, very smooth on the ball. Good decision-making at the moment that’s why he has our trust.”
And the Cherries man rewarded his manager’s faith when in the eighth minute as part of a lovely move he found Jude Bellingham on the edge of the box, before the Real Madrid man slipped in Kane to fire into the net from close range.
The hosts simply could not live with Gordon’s pace and the Barcelona winger also did brilliantly to bring down a Saka cross and pull it back for Bellingham to poke the ball into the net after 21 minutes. England completed 27 passes on the way to Bellingham firing home.
Gordon could have already had a hat-trick by this stage, given the number of times he was breaking free of the Croatia defence. The ex-Newcastle man finally got his goal – his fourth in four games – with a diving header meeting a tremendous Trent Alexander-Arnold-esque cross from Jarrell Quansah in the 39th minute.
There could have been a way back into the game for Croatia just a minute later, as Elliot Anderson in a rare moment of carelessness had his pocket picked on the edge of England’s penalty area. Manchester City’s Mateo Kovacic rounded Jordan Pickford but with the goal at his mercy, he inexplicably shot wide.
Then on the stroke of half-time, Bellingham was again the provider, this time setting up Saka on a plate to score from close range. Croatia looked shellshocked and they did not recover.
In the 53rd minute Saka and Anderson combined, with the £116m City midfielder crossing well for Kane to slide in and finish. Gordon was just behind him, as England’s stars were quite literally queuing up to score. And in the 68th minute they did again, when a terrible pass from Croatia let in Kane, who selflessly handed a second goal to Saka.
Tuchel shuffled his deck at this stage, with Morgan Rogers, Eberechi Eze and James Garner all entering the field in place of Scott, Gordon and Kane. The game was completely over as a contest and England toyed with Croatia, before in the 87th minute Rogers bent his run perfectly and raced behind the host’s backline to collect a long ball from Bellingham and slot past the stranded keeper.
Because of the supposed ban, only 100 or so England fans were in the stands to witness Croatia’s biggest ever defeat. Croatian supporters had taunted them ahead of kick-off with a banner that read: “It’s not coming home.”
Croatia’s players must wish they’d stayed at home.