Eight Years Later, England Want Revenge
Eight years ago Croatia broke English hearts in a World Cup semi-final, and now they've been handed the same group at the same tournament. Football doesn't do coincidences — it does storylines.
Cast your mind back to July 11, 2018. Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, and England were 90 minutes from their first World Cup final since 1966. Then Mario Mandžukić happened. Extra time, a gut-punch header, and a nation's summer collapsed. Gareth Southgate trudged off the pitch. A generation of players went home wondering if they'd ever get so close again.
Now here we are at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, June 19, 2026, and the football gods have the cheek to put them in the same group. Jude Bellingham wasn't even in senior football last time. Harry Kane was the tournament's top scorer and still went home empty-handed. Bukayo Saka was a teenager watching on television. This England squad has unfinished business with the sport itself — and Croatia is the perfect reminder of exactly what that means.
For Croatia, this is something altogether more tender. Luka Modrić — almost certainly playing in his final World Cup at 40 years old — leads a side that has punched so far above its weight for so long it almost seems rude to question them. The Vatreni don't care about size or expectation. They care about each other, and that has always been enough.
The stakes
Both sides will arrive at Matchday 2 knowing that a win here could all but secure progression from Group F, while a defeat leaves dangerous work to do on the final matchday. England, given the weight of expectation at home, can ill afford to let another tournament slip into anxiety and drama — three points here would be the statement their fans have craved for nearly a decade.
The rivalry angle
This isn't a rivalry built on decades of league encounters or geographic fury — it's something more specific and more painful. England and Croatia have met twice in World Cup knockout football and Croatia have won both times, in 2018 and in the 1998 quarter-final. For England that's not a rivalry, that's a wound. For Croatia, it's proof that belief beats pedigree every single time.
Players who could decide it
The match's most dangerous creative force, Bellingham is the player England have built their entire tournament identity around — if he turns up big here, England almost certainly win.
At 40, this may genuinely be his last World Cup match of consequence — and Modrić has a habit of making those moments unforgettable, conducting games at his own unhurried, devastating tempo.
Kane scored in 2018 and still lost; this is his chance to be the striker who finally changes the story, not just the stats.
The best young centre-back in the world will be tasked with keeping Kane quiet — a duel within a duel that could decide the whole thing.
Did you know?
- !Luka Modrić was 13 years old when Croatia knocked England out of the 1998 World Cup quarter-finals — he's been tormenting them metaphorically ever since.
- !Harry Kane has scored 67 international goals for England but has never won a major tournament — no player in world football carries a heavier golden boot.
- !MetLife Stadium in New Jersey holds over 82,500 fans and sits in the shadow of the New York City skyline, meaning this grudge match will be played in front of one of the most electric atmospheres in World Cup history.
Head to head
England and Croatia have met 12 times, with England edging the overall record, but it is Croatia who have won when it has mattered most — both World Cup knockout encounters have gone the Vatreni's way, and that psychological ledger looms large over everything on June 19.
Highlights
Video highlights coming soon