Kane 2, Tunisia 1 as England win opener

Maguire came on then and played the only 79 minutes of his England career in a three-man back-line with John Stones and Kyle Walker before this Monday – the trio Gareth Southgate has now adopted as his first choice.

That was after Kane had earlier opened the scoring, pouncing quickest on a rebound at a corner before a controversial Tunisia penalty allowed Ferjani Sassi to equalise before half-time. I’ve not seen the penalty [awarded against England] back but, from my point of view, it didn’t look like one.

Much of the pre-match attention had been on the large increase in temperatures expected at the stadium, compared to England’s base in Repino.

Lampard: “All the great signs of that first half, all the energy and movement we had, did not really happen after the break but we kept going”.

Players from both sides, but particularly those from England, spent an undue amount of time trying to ward them off during the match.

The Tottenham Hotspur striker bookended a heroic performance and scored either side of a Ferjani Sassi equaliser from the penalty spot, netting a 91st-minute victor as Gareth Southgate’s side clinched three points in shaky fashion.

After a scoreless run at the 2016 European Championship, Kane is finally showing the predatory instinct in front of goal that has served Tottenham so well.

Africa’s best performance at the World Cup has been to reach the quarterfinals, accomplished by Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010.

Harry Kane’s World Cup is just getting started, and England are clearly very lucky to have him.

One of Southgate’s predecessors, Fabio Capello, often spoke about the weight of the shirt as a burden to England’s players, but there was no sign of this in the opening exchanges.

We just have to hope the officials get it right more often than not. Ruben Loftus-Cheek played a big role that won’t be talked about enough.

However, Kane believes Monday’s win showed the spirit within Southgate’s young and largely inexperienced squad.

All was going well for England until Tunisia started to thrive forward with their limited chances. But after Kyle Walker softly conceded a penalty that Ferjani Sassi converted in the 35th, numerous fouls went against England. But a lack of quality from Raheem Sterling and Jesse Lingard left the result up in the air, giving Tunisia life.