The second half occurred, and seemed it would do little more than occur, even given the tireless drumbeat and chant from the England section. It did not appear that Kane would end up saying, “It felt great out there,” and, “I think the most (important) is we’re proud of each other,” and, “We never panicked,” and, “We never looked like conceding another one, which is important.” It did not appear that Southgate would end up saying, “I think we had leaders on the field that kept delivering the right messages,” and, “What pleased me is there’s been a long period of work gone in … and if you don’t get the win, even if you get some things right, that can breed a little bit of doubt … and the next four or five days can be a little bit uncomfortable for people.”<doc-sep>Harry Kane beat Tunisia on Monday night, but he did more than that. He beat the hand of history that was just minutes away from reasserting its cold grip over this England team, just as their World Cup was beginning. With one normal-time minute left of their opener, England were heading for one of their most familiar stories of all: the disappointing 1-1 draw in which a strong start gave way to nerves, an equaliser, a burdened, anxious second half and ultimately an underwhelming point. Against Sweden in 2002, USA in 2010 and France in Euro 2012, we have seen this one before. And that sorry point - two less than Belgium have - is exactly what England deserved when Kieran Trippier curled in one last corner kick in the last minute of normal time here. But Harry Maguire won the first header and there was Kane, lurking at the far post, swiveling his body to head the ball into the only empty corner of the net. It was his second close-range goal of the game, after tapping England ahead after 11 minutes. Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Show all 25 1 /25 Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Tunisia vs England: Player ratings We run the rule over the two teams. Getty Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Tunisia Getty Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Mouez Hassen - 5 out of 10 The young goalkeeper made a couple of tremendous early saves before disaster struck with injury and England's opener. FIFA via Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Dylan Bronn - 6 Pinned back for long periods, he made one impressive burst down the flank that had the England defence panicked. AFP/Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Syam Ben Youssef - 6 Defended staunchly throughout by whatever means he deemed necessary. AFP/Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Yassine Meriah - 6 Another who gave everything in attempting to keep England out, but ultimately came up short. Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Ali Maaloul - 4 The left-back struggled to keep pace with Trippier, Sterling and Loftus-Cheek on a difficult night. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Ellyes Skhiri - 5 Found it difficult when England committed men forward, but recycled possession neatly on the occasions Tunisia took charge of the ball. FIFA via Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Fakhereedine Ben Youssef - 6 Made the most of Walker's challenge to win Tunisia's penalty, he showed a willingness to get into the box when needed. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Ferjani Sassi - 7 Tunisia's goalscorer, he was spot on from 12 yards and did much to protect his defence in the barrage that followed. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Naim Sliti - 6 The most impressive Tunisian from an attacking perspective although he was wayward with one shot and was ultimately sacrificed for a more defensively-minded player. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Anice Badri - 4 Overrun in the middle, he offered little cover for his defence and even less support to the forwards. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Wahbi Khazri - 4 The Sunderland player struggled to make an impact up front before making way for Khalifa late on. FIFA via Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings England Getty Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Jordan Pickford - 6 Close to keeping out a decent spotkick on an otherwise quiet evening for the young goalkeeper. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Kyle Walker - 6 Fielded in that unfamiliar centre-back role, he was perhaps unfortunate to concede a first half penalty. Otherwise steady and still threatened on a couple of those trademark runs. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings John Stones - 7 More of an aerial presence in the opposition box than his own, his thumping early header led to Kane's opener. AFP/Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Harry Maguire - 7 A couple of moments of lapsed concentration, but the defender continues to impress on the international stage. Happy to carry the ball forward when England needed creative inspiration. FIFA via Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Jordan Henderson - 7 An influential figure in midfield, who consistently picked out Trippier and Young on either wing with short and long passes. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Kieran Trippier - 8 A constant threat, both with set-pieces and when he bombarded down the right. A cool head in defence too. Getty Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Jesse Lingard - 7 His work rate and movement was exceptional, his finishing less so. Faded in the second half. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Dele Alli - 5 Appeared to pick up a knock early on that hampered his movement, but remained on until the 80th minute. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Ashley Young - 5 Still looks awkward in the left wing-back position, constantly cutting back on to his right foot. Made some questionable decisions in his defending. FIFA via Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Raheem Sterling - 6 Began the game full of pace and intent, but lost belief after a couple of early misses and was eventually subbed. FIFA via Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Harry Kane - 9 Two goals from the England captain, the second an injury time winner to show off his goalpoaching prowess on the international stage. Getty Images England had the win, the three points to keep them close to Belgium, and as the players celebrated with the fans at the end, they shared the same mix of feelings. Glee, relief, and sense that this time might be slightly different. Because this whole game was a test of this untested team, with their new manager and new captain. Kane and Southgate have been hammering the message recently that this is to be a fresh start, but few would have expected Kane to deliver quite like this. Two goals, one at the start of the game and one at the end, turning what would could have been a frustrating night into an exhilirating one. Even for a player who specialises in implausible comic-book decisiveness and maximum narrative pay-off, this was something else. He said on Sunday night he wanted to show the world what he can do, and that is exactly what he did. And it was Kane, long before then, who made the most of England’s promising start. The opening minutes were almost everything Gareth Southgate would have wanted. Some wondered whether his promises of bold attacking football, of new patterns of play, would amount to anything here in the distorting pressure of a World Cup. But they did. The football was exactly as England promised, especially with those incisive thrusts of Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard beyond the front-line, behind the Tunisian defence, blowing open the game from the start. In the first five minutes England could have scored three times. Had they done, the win might have been easier than it was. But no-one knew that back then, and any immediate worries that all that pressure and hard work would count for nothing only lasted another five minutes. Harry Kane opened the scoring early in the first-half (Getty) That hunger to fight for the ball finally paid off, when Harry Kane forced a corner. John Stones’ header was saved but there was Kane to tuck away a simple finish. It instantly felt like the start of something: England’s first of the World Cup, Kane’s first in a tournament, the beginning of the serious bit of the Southgate era. There was a brief spell, when England piled forward in pursuit of a second, when the players did indeed look like the unburdened fresh-starters Southgate wants them to be. And if Lingard had finished Ashley Young’s free-kick then maybe they might have been, in a far more comfortable win than this. Kane's scored his first goal at a World Cup after just 11 minutes (PA)<doc-sep>When Raheem Sterling finished his season at Manchester City with a career record 23 goals in a season and a Premier League trophy proudly held high above him, there was no conceivable way his stuttering England form will continue. It only took England four minutes to present Sterling with the perfect chance to score. The chance to show why this England team should be built around him. A chance, most importantly, to show his many doubters that he can deliver. Dele Alli’s precise pass set Jesse Lingard away on the left wing. The Tunisian defenders pause for an offside flag which did not come as Lingard set himself to cross. A low ball across the face of goal found Sterling at the back post, all he had to do is get a good touch on the ball and he scores into an open net. Missed. Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Show all 25 1 /25 Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Tunisia vs England: Player ratings We run the rule over the two teams. Getty Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Tunisia Getty Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Mouez Hassen - 5 out of 10 The young goalkeeper made a couple of tremendous early saves before disaster struck with injury and England's opener. FIFA via Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Dylan Bronn - 6 Pinned back for long periods, he made one impressive burst down the flank that had the England defence panicked. AFP/Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Syam Ben Youssef - 6 Defended staunchly throughout by whatever means he deemed necessary. AFP/Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Yassine Meriah - 6 Another who gave everything in attempting to keep England out, but ultimately came up short. Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Ali Maaloul - 4 The left-back struggled to keep pace with Trippier, Sterling and Loftus-Cheek on a difficult night. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Ellyes Skhiri - 5 Found it difficult when England committed men forward, but recycled possession neatly on the occasions Tunisia took charge of the ball. FIFA via Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Fakhereedine Ben Youssef - 6 Made the most of Walker's challenge to win Tunisia's penalty, he showed a willingness to get into the box when needed. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Ferjani Sassi - 7 Tunisia's goalscorer, he was spot on from 12 yards and did much to protect his defence in the barrage that followed. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Naim Sliti - 6 The most impressive Tunisian from an attacking perspective although he was wayward with one shot and was ultimately sacrificed for a more defensively-minded player. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Anice Badri - 4 Overrun in the middle, he offered little cover for his defence and even less support to the forwards. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Wahbi Khazri - 4 The Sunderland player struggled to make an impact up front before making way for Khalifa late on. FIFA via Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings England Getty Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Jordan Pickford - 6 Close to keeping out a decent spotkick on an otherwise quiet evening for the young goalkeeper. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Kyle Walker - 6 Fielded in that unfamiliar centre-back role, he was perhaps unfortunate to concede a first half penalty. Otherwise steady and still threatened on a couple of those trademark runs. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings John Stones - 7 More of an aerial presence in the opposition box than his own, his thumping early header led to Kane's opener. AFP/Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Harry Maguire - 7 A couple of moments of lapsed concentration, but the defender continues to impress on the international stage. Happy to carry the ball forward when England needed creative inspiration. FIFA via Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Jordan Henderson - 7 An influential figure in midfield, who consistently picked out Trippier and Young on either wing with short and long passes. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Kieran Trippier - 8 A constant threat, both with set-pieces and when he bombarded down the right. A cool head in defence too. Getty Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Jesse Lingard - 7 His work rate and movement was exceptional, his finishing less so. Faded in the second half. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Dele Alli - 5 Appeared to pick up a knock early on that hampered his movement, but remained on until the 80th minute. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Ashley Young - 5 Still looks awkward in the left wing-back position, constantly cutting back on to his right foot. Made some questionable decisions in his defending. FIFA via Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Raheem Sterling - 6 Began the game full of pace and intent, but lost belief after a couple of early misses and was eventually subbed. FIFA via Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Harry Kane - 9 Two goals from the England captain, the second an injury time winner to show off his goalpoaching prowess on the international stage. Getty Images Sterling gets his feet tangled and miskicks the ball then desperately watches the his tame effort trickle wide. The two year, eight month and nine day wait for a third England goal goes on. Two years under the stewardship of Pep Guardiola has seen Sterling evolve into one of England’s best players, a player the team can be built around rather than forcing him in as a bit-part winger, which was the case in previous squads. Gareth Southgate’s fluid 3-5-2 is designed to get Sterling buzzing around Harry Kane who can hold the ball up or come short to allow Sterling the space to attack behind a defence, which is how England worked Sterling’s early chance. Raheem Sterling failed to deliver on the international stage (Getty) England started strongly and Sterling’s blushes were quickly spared when Kane tapped in Harry Maguire’s saved headed effort. But Tunisia hit back from the spot and once again, the attention turned to Sterling to rescue the cause. With England he finds himself in different company. Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and Leroy Sane can provide Sterling with five or six chances to score each game, with the Three Lions he might get one or two chances made for him, but often he has to be the one to provide those chances for himself and others. The rest of the first half passed Sterling by as the intensity decreased after Tunisia’s equaliser. It was a 45 minutes that on another night he might have set the tone for England, but it was another half of football that had ‘Sterling’ trending on Twitter, and not for a good reason. Jamie Vardy and Marcus Rashford watched on from the bench and you have to feel either of them may have made a bigger impact, although you would back anyone to score from where Sterling missed. In truth, the reflection is that the England Raheem Sterling was playing instead of Manchester City’s upgraded and higher functioning model. The clinical finishing, incisive passing and fearlessness he has shown at the Etihad had vanished, just his movement remained. The minutes and game continued to drift past Sterling who dropped deep, drifted wide and ran in behind in a frantic bid to turn around his fortunes, but nothing came off. After 68 minutes Southgate’s patience ran out and Sterling was withdrawn for Marcus Rashford after failing to deliver on potential which has been promised all the way from August last year. Southgate did not want to drop him to shield him from the tattoo furore, or for arriving at training late, but the England manager may consider starting Rashford or Vardy because there is much more to come from Sterling and this England team.<doc-sep>
Harry Kane was England’s hero as the Tottenham Hotspur man scored a late header to seal all three points against Tunisia. The match began well for England, as Harry Kane gave them the lead shortly before Tunisia’s first choice goalkeeper Mouez Hassen was forced off with an injury. But England failed to build on their lead and were pegged back by a Ferjani Sassi penalty kick after Kyle Walker was harshly adjudged to have fouled Fakhreddine Ben Youssef. Step forward Kane, who scored a header in the 91st minute to seal a late, late win for Gareth Southgate’s side. Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Show all 25 1 /25 Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Tunisia vs England: Player ratings We run the rule over the two teams. Getty Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Tunisia Getty Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Mouez Hassen - 5 out of 10 The young goalkeeper made a couple of tremendous early saves before disaster struck with injury and England's opener. FIFA via Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Dylan Bronn - 6 Pinned back for long periods, he made one impressive burst down the flank that had the England defence panicked. AFP/Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Syam Ben Youssef - 6 Defended staunchly throughout by whatever means he deemed necessary. AFP/Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Yassine Meriah - 6 Another who gave everything in attempting to keep England out, but ultimately came up short. Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Ali Maaloul - 4 The left-back struggled to keep pace with Trippier, Sterling and Loftus-Cheek on a difficult night. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Ellyes Skhiri - 5 Found it difficult when England committed men forward, but recycled possession neatly on the occasions Tunisia took charge of the ball. FIFA via Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Fakhereedine Ben Youssef - 6 Made the most of Walker's challenge to win Tunisia's penalty, he showed a willingness to get into the box when needed. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Ferjani Sassi - 7 Tunisia's goalscorer, he was spot on from 12 yards and did much to protect his defence in the barrage that followed. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Naim Sliti - 6 The most impressive Tunisian from an attacking perspective although he was wayward with one shot and was ultimately sacrificed for a more defensively-minded player. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Anice Badri - 4 Overrun in the middle, he offered little cover for his defence and even less support to the forwards. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Wahbi Khazri - 4 The Sunderland player struggled to make an impact up front before making way for Khalifa late on. FIFA via Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings England Getty Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Jordan Pickford - 6 Close to keeping out a decent spotkick on an otherwise quiet evening for the young goalkeeper. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Kyle Walker - 6 Fielded in that unfamiliar centre-back role, he was perhaps unfortunate to concede a first half penalty. Otherwise steady and still threatened on a couple of those trademark runs. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings John Stones - 7 More of an aerial presence in the opposition box than his own, his thumping early header led to Kane's opener. AFP/Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Harry Maguire - 7 A couple of moments of lapsed concentration, but the defender continues to impress on the international stage. Happy to carry the ball forward when England needed creative inspiration. FIFA via Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Jordan Henderson - 7 An influential figure in midfield, who consistently picked out Trippier and Young on either wing with short and long passes. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Kieran Trippier - 8 A constant threat, both with set-pieces and when he bombarded down the right. A cool head in defence too. Getty Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Jesse Lingard - 7 His work rate and movement was exceptional, his finishing less so. Faded in the second half. Getty Images Tunisia vs England: Player ratings Dele Alli - 5 Appeared to pick up a knock early on that hampered his movement, but remained on until the 80th minute.