FIFA Urged to Ban England World Cup Tactic Used During 4-2 Win vs Croatia

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FIFA have been urged to ban a tactic that England utilised during their opening 2026 World Cup match against Croatia on Wednesday.

The Three Lions began their campaign with an impressive 4-2 win over the 2018 World Cup finalists.

Harry Kane helped himself to a first-half brace, while Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford also got themselves on the scoresheet. Croatia netted two equalisers during the opening 45 minutes but were outclassed by their opponents during the second half.

While England were excellent value for their three points, there was a degree of controversy surrounding the first goal.

Kane’s initial penalty was saved by Dominik Livakovic, but the Croatian goalkeeper was penalised for being off his line.

VAR stepped in and allowed Kane to re-take the penalty. The prolific Bayern Munich star, who is one of the leading contenders for the 2026 Ballon d’Or award, made no mistake with his retaken spot-kick.

“When I watched the clips I saw he likes to move early, so I knew that there was a chance that if I did the stutter that he would come off the line,” Kane told BBC Sport after the match.

“I was 80 per cent sure that it was off the line, I wasn’t 100 per cent sure, then obviously when it got retaken I changed the technique a little bit. This is all why I do the research, and in the end it worked out nicely for me.”

However, former Ghana international Kevin-Prince Boateng believes the stuttered penalty run-up that Kane utilised should not be permitted.

“(It) should be banned,” the former AC Milan and Barcelona player argued on SBS, per Fox Sports.

As well as enticing the goalkeeper off his line, Kane’s stuttered penalty run-up also led to encroachment into the box from Croatia’s players.

Boateng feels FIFA should step in and ban players from using the stuttered run-up to avoid a repeat scenario.

England manager Thomas Tuchel has called on FIFA to make an urgent change after an issue that spoiled his World Cup experience

Kane opted for a more orthodox approach with his re-taken penalty, slamming the ball into the bottom corner of the net.

"That takes a huge amount of courage to step up again, go through the process again," former England defender Lee Dixon said on commentary. "Kane pulls at his socks, looks down, no stutter this time."

England are highly likely to qualify for the knockout rounds following their eye-catching win over Croatia.

Tuchel’s men face Ghana on June 23 before wrapping up their group-stage campaign against Panama four days later.

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