Overview from the night
Ghana wins late, Uzbekistan’s fight is not rewarded
June 18, 2026 – 7:24 a.mReading time: 3 minutes
Harry Kane is the outstanding man in England’s victory. For Ghana, a much less prominent footballer becomes the hero of the first game. Colombia is struggling against an outsider. The overview from the night.
With an outstanding performance in the opening win against Croatia, Harry Kane is fueling England’s hopes of a second World Cup title. The star striker from FC Bayern Munich was strong in the 4:2 (2:2) and scored twice. “We just did what we had to do to win a game,” Kane said. “We are ready, we are well prepared.”
The 32-year-old was successful with a penalty kick in the second attempt (12th minute) and with a header (42nd). With his World Cup goals nine and ten, Kane drew level with England’s previous record holder Gary Lineker. Jude Bellingham (48th) and Marcus Rashford (85th) scored the other goals for the tournament favorites. Martin Baturina (36th) and Petar Musa (45th + 5) were able to equalize twice for Croatia. Read more about this here.
These are the other important topics of the night:
Boos during a drinking break
19 degrees in Toronto, rain – and then two three-minute breaks to cool down: The audience in Toronto audibly disliked FIFA’s order – they booed. However, it wasn’t until the fifth minute of stoppage time that the fans really got excited about the previously rather dull encounter between Ghana and Panama: Caleb Yirenkyi from the Danish Superliga club FC Nordsjaelland scored for Ghana to make the final score 1-0 (0-0). Shortly before the final whistle there was more excitement and a massive pack formation in front of the Ghanaian goal. Referee Glenn Nyberg remained Scandinavian calm – only Carlos Harvey from Panama saw yellow after the rude shove.
Colombia wins against brave Uzbeks
Last game of the first match day, the 24th of 104 games in this monster World Cup. And finally the debut of newcomer Uzbekistan. The team of coach Fabio Cannavaro, world champions with the Italians in Germany in 2006, held on bravely, 22-year-old Abbosbek Fajsullayev even scored to equalize. But Colombia has Luis Díaz: The FC Bayern attacker scored the decisive goal to make it 2-1 in the 3-1 (1-0) win against the “White Wolves”.
In the video | World Cup player brutally tackles cameraman
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Davies fit for next game
Late but good news for Canada. In the second World Cup group game on Friday night German time (midnight/ZDF and MagentaTV) against Qatar, Alphonso Davies will be back in the squad – at least that. The FC Bayern defender is “available again, he is ready,” said national coach Jesse Marsch. Playing from the start is not possible: “We’ll see how the game goes,” explained Marsch, “and then decide how we use him.”