A day of action in the World Cup’s Group K and L saw England and Ghana win, and DR Congo pull off an upset by holding Portugal to a 1-1 draw.
Portugal looked like a certain winner when they took on DR Congo in Houston, but the Africans dug in to earn an excellent draw – DR Congo’s first ever at the World Cup finals. Joana Neves headed home Portugal’s opener six minutes in, but they could not build on that as DR Congo defended resiliently.
Yoane Wissa netted the historic equaliser for DR Congo in first-half stoppage-time from Arthur Masuaku’s cross, and even with Cristiano Ronaldo, who became the oldest outfield player ever to play in a World Cup, starting his side couldn’t find a winner.
Elsewhere, England got their World Cup bid up and running with an entertaining 4-2 win against Croatia in Arlington. Harry Kane was on target twice to equal Gary Lineker’s all-time World Cup record of 10 goals for England, and there were also goals for Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford. Croatia replied twice through Martin Baturina and Petar Musa, but England’s greater threat in attack did eventually tell.
Finally, Ghana scored a last-gasp winner against Panama to move level on points with England in Group L. It looked set to end in a goalless draw until midfielder Caleb Yirenkyi tucked away the winner from a Brandon Thomas-Asante pass in the 95th minute – Ghana’s latest-ever goal at a World Cup Finals.
