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17 days on from being crowned the best player in the world at the London Palladium, standing at the summit having conquered the game as the role model, rather than the showman, another Nations League tie rolled around and the England captain returned to Wembley to a rapturous ovation.
This was also the night he would eclipse Peter Shilton as England’s all-time appearance maker, reaching 126 caps for the Three Lions, receiving his commemorative framed shirt from Prince William.
Fellow Ballon d’Or winner Luka Modrić was initially left on the bench, with Slaven Bilic entrusting others to tackle the task of neutralising England’s midfield firepower.
Both candidly called out the humiliating 7-0 loss they endured last month in Rijeka, when the rampant and ruthless England trounced the hosts.
Croatia did go on to shake off their dishevelment against juggernauts Spain, albeit walking away empty-handed by conceding late.
The visitors did not want to relive their October battering, and starved their opponents of possession, making England look fairly sluggish, steadily coasting in the opening ten minutes, knowing they only required one point for qualification.
When previewing the contest, Thomas Tuchel reaffirmed Kane’s accumulation of knowledge and how his roaming across the pitch is tactically manageable.
From right-back, he arrowed a pass to the opposite flank to Lewis Hall, who was scampering forwards, splitting and evading the defence from range, after the first few went astray to simply lull everyone in.
Rogers breaks the deadlock
England became more fluid with fruitful interchanges concentrated down the right wing, where Morgan Rogers was favoured to start, amid the injury to Bukayo Saka and the omission of Noni Madueke from Arsenal.
Kane’s next sumptuous pass, painting the Wembley canvas, with each stroke as audacious as the one before, came when he floated the ball over to Jude Bellingham to send into the danger zone in the 24th minute.
Loitering centrally in the box, Rogers smuggled it in, stabbing the ball into the ground, and Dominik Livakovic was unable to swat the ball to safety.
Croatia conjured their selection of shots in the first half, but none with enough venom to trouble Jordan Pickford.
Declan Rice was back in the heart of the England team after missing out on the last camp due to load management, and his striding underlap led to Kane having a swipe at goal, but Josip Stanišić snuck in to intervene.
Sučić punishes Quansah’s error
Rewind to the World Cup opening game against the same opponents, one of England’s most free-flowing, their defensive frailties were exposed and similar gaps emerged again, although individual indecision gifted an equaliser.
Joško Gvardiol’s faint first contact from a corner fell to Jarell Quansah, who attempted to cushion a header back into the gloves of Pickford, rather than hooking it clear.
Petar Sučić swivelled and fired from close range into the roof of the net to restore parity 59 minutes into proceedings.
Kane’s penalty seals qualification
Quansah did make amends by winning a penalty five minutes later, arcing his run and then impeded by a tug of his shirt in the box.
Despite the appeals, the referee did not award the spot kick straight away and was advised to consult the monitor to review his original call, which ended up being overturned.
A customary exhale, planting his foot, and the net was about to bulge. Kane took no chances and slotted his strike straight down the middle to restore his side’s advantage.
Substitute James Garner thought he notched his first senior goal for his nation after England applied the pressure higher, until the assistant referee raised his flag for offside.
Croatia sensed they could earn their share of the spoils by breaching England’s defence, and they raced up the other end, but Quansah’s sliding block did enough to deny Ante Budimir.
Having already qualified, England will travel to Madrid to face Spain on Sunday night, hoping to exact revenge on the world champions and finish in top spot.
