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Harry Can: Did Virat Kohli predict Harry Kane would save England against Tunisia in FIFA 2018 match?

Captain Harry Kane came to the rescue with two goals, the second a dramatic injury-time winner, as England began their World Cup Group G campaign with a stuttering 2-1 win over Tunisia.

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Virat Kohli, the Indian cricket team captain looks like he has the making of a soothsayer as well. Before the match, the football fan had cheered for Harry Kane, the England captain and Tottenham player tweeting his support.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Kane is the talisman of Tottenham Hotspurs a team whose shirt sponsors are Puma, the same company Virat Kohli represents.

He wrote on Twitter: “Wishing you a successful World Cup campaign @HKane! #WorldCupRussia2018 #HarryCan”

And it proved to be right with Harry Kane becoming the first Englishman to score a brace at the World Cup since Gary Lineker in 1990. He opened the scoring against Tunisia in the 10th minute before scoring against in injury time to give England the lead. This was also the first time England won an opening game in a major tournament since the 2006 World Cup, the first time they scored after 90 minutes (without extra-time) in a regular game. 

 

Kane and Harry enjoy watching each other play as evidenced by the twitter exchange between the two a couple of years ago.

Kane, in 2016, has spoken of the mutual respect between himself and Virat Kohli after the Tottenham striker and the India batsman were involved in a Twitter exchange.

Kane had tweeted his appreciation of Virat Kohli's match-winning innings against Australia as during the World T20 tournament.

Kohli had responded to Kane on Twitter, congratulating him for his strike against Germany that kick-started England's 3-2 comeback win in Berlin. 

Captain Harry Kane came to the rescue with two goals, the second a dramatic injury-time winner, as England began their World Cup Group G campaign with a stuttering 2-1 win over Tunisia.

Gareth Southgate's men almost paid a heavy price for missing a slew of first-half chances when Tunisia's Ferjani Sassi slotted home a softly-awarded penalty 20 minutes before half-time.

And the north Africans were still level as the game went past the 90-minute mark.

But Harry Maguire won a header from a corner and Kane was on hand at the far post to nod in the winner before being mobbed by his ecstatic teammates.

England had started brightly in a blur of passing and movement and could have been two goals up inside the first four minutes.

First Jordan Henderson's lofted first-time pass released Dele Alli and when the ball eventually broke to Jesse Lingard he saw his shot from six yards saved by the outstretched left boot of Mouez Hassen in the Tunisia goal.

Kane had been kept quiet in the opening salvos, but he exploded into action in the 11th minute when he cut inside from the left and saw his shot from the edge of the box deflected wide for a corner.

Wasteful and over-cautious England get out of jail

 

England manager Gareth Southgate’s overly cautious approach and his team's hesitance in front of goal resulted in a nervy 2-1 World Cup win over Tunisia rather than the comfortable victory their early dominance deserved.

Having gone in 1-1 at halftime in their opening Group G game, England came up against opponents clearly playing for a draw, defending deep in numbers and barely threatening a counter-attack.

England offered far too little in return until Harry Kane got them out of jail as Southgate's men failed to produce the invention, the element of surprise and the changes from the bench needed to alter the course of the game.

For all the positive play in the opening 20 minutes, during which they took the lead through Kane, they wasted a series of chances and then lacked the ability to open up a massed defence.

England could have gone in at the break with a handsome lead but their finishing was poor with Jesse Lingard the main culprit.

Southgate's tactics have been hailed in the build-up to the tournament and the early stage of the game showed his formation at its best - pressing high, moving intelligently and creating openings.

But the concern over his system, with three central defenders and two advanced wing-backs, is that it is better suited for open games against top sides than dealing with weaker teams playing for a draw.

And so it proved as England barely troubled the Tunisian substitute goalkeeper after the break.

All the momentum of the first half was lost as England's played slowed down and they were unable to carve open space for Kane and his strike partner Raheem Sterling.

Attacks became predictable and fizzled out on the edge of the area as Tunisia closed down space and kept England safely at a distance from goal.

 

LONE ATTACKER

Wing-backs Kieran Trippier and Ashley Young had freedom but as the game wore on and England's approach became increasingly easy to deal with for the African side, the sight of three centre-halves against a lone Tunisian attacker looked incongruous.

England's attacks are focused on the flanks and the lack of a creative central midfielder resulted in a predictability that the Tunisians were well organised enough to deal with.

One central defender could comfortably have been sacrificed for another attacker but when Southgate finally made a change -- in the 68th minute - it was Sterling who went off for Marcus Rashford.

Ten minutes from the end, with England's defenders acting as de facto midfielders, it was attacking midfielder Dele Alli who made way for Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

It was a conservative approach which relied on persistence and fresh legs to deliver results and in the end, it worked as England earned their first win in the opening game of a major tournament since they beat Paraguay in the 2006 World Cup.

But Southgate will face this situation again and England fans will hope he has a Plan B which jettisons the three-man central defensive unit when it is not needed.

An opening win is all Southgate could have asked for and after their poor performances in recent tournaments, England will go into their next game against Panama with calmness and confidence.

But they need to show much more -- better finishing, greater variety in possession and a more active approach from their manager - in the tougher tests ahead.

With inputs from Reuters and PTI

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