“The clock had ticked past the 90-minute mark. Harry Kane was there and, in that position, Gareth Southgate could not have wished for any other player to be primed inside the penalty area. An old English routine: the corner, the flick-on, the back-post header and, suddenly, England’s opening game of the World Cup had its happy ending. A deserved one, too, bearing in mind the pattern of this game and the long spells when it had been threatening to finish with a churning sense of deja vu. England, after all, had managed only five wins in their opening fixtures of every World Cup and European Championship since 1950.” Guardian
