England open their World Cup Group L campaign against Croatia in Arlington tonight.
It has not been an entirely smooth build-up for Thomas Tuchel’s men with some of their kit being stolen en route to Kansas City while defender Tino Livramento has been forced to pull out of the tournament due to injury.
Croatia have an ageing squad but it is still sprinkled with quality. The experienced Luka Modric continues to patrol the midfield while Josko Gvardiol and young talent Luka Vuskovic make up two thirds of the defence.
Modric played a key role as Croatia beat England in the 2018 semi-finals and the Three Lions will be eager to gain revenge.
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Where to watch England v Croatia: TV and online streams
England versus Croatia kicks off tomorrow night at 9pm UK time. You can watch it on ITV1 and stream via ITVX.
Click HERE for a full World Cup TV guide
Stats for England v Croatia
- This is Croatia’s seventh World Cup appearance. In their previous six participations, they were either eliminated in the group stage (three times) or reached the semi-finals (three times), including a run to the final in 2018.
- Croatia and France are the only teams to have reached the semi-finals in each of the last two World Cup editions.
- Croatia have won all four of their World Cup penalty shootouts; the joint-best record in the competition’s history along with Germany.
- Luka Modrić has completed more line-breaking passes across the last three World Cup tournaments than any other player – the Croatian captain has broken the opposition’s lines 199 times in 17 matches.
- England will be making their 17th World Cup appearance – it also marks their eighth consecutive participation, the longest uninterrupted run in their history.
- Since winning their only World Cup in 1966, England have progressed past the quarter-finals on only two occasions: 1990 (4th place) and 2018 (4th place).
- England kept nine clean sheets in their 10 matches in 2025, including a shutout in each of their eight UEFA World Cup qualifiers, making them the only team not to concede in the UEFA qualifiers; England’s 2.1 xG against was also the best expected goals against total of all European teams.
- England have both won and kept a clean sheet in each of their last 10 competitive matches, becoming the second European nation to do so after Spain between October 2014 and June 2016.
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