Kane's Late Double Sinks DR Congo as England Begin Knockout Charge

For 75 minutes in Atlanta, England's World Cup drifted towards a crisis. Then Harry Kane did what Harry Kane has done for a decade, and a tournament that threatened to unravel is instead gathering pace.

England beat Congo DR 2-1 in their round of 32 tie on Wednesday night, recovering from a seventh-minute shock to reach the last 16, where Mexico await at the Estadio Banorte in Mexico City on Monday. It was a comeback carved out the hard way, against opponents who had travelled with nothing to lose and played like it.

The evening had begun dreadfully. With barely seven minutes played, Brian Cipenga gave the Congolese a lead that was as deserved as it was unexpected, punishing a hesitant English start and igniting the large and joyous Congolese contingent in the stands.

What followed was an hour of mounting anxiety. Thomas Tuchel's side controlled possession without controlling the match, probing at a defence that protected its penalty area with growing conviction as the minutes passed. The Congolese, quick and direct on the counter-attack, carried a threat of their own whenever England committed bodies forward.

This was England's first knockout tie of the expanded tournament, the round of 32 a new layer in the World Cup's architecture, and for long spells it carried the tension of unfamiliar territory. Every misplaced pass was groaned at, every Congolese clearance cheered to the rafters by neutrals who sensed a famous upset.

The captain answers

The equaliser, when it came on 75 minutes, was the product of persistence rather than inspiration. Kane, marshalled with fierce discipline all evening, found the half-yard he needed and finished with the economy that has defined his career.

Eleven minutes later, with extra time looming, he won it. The 86th-minute winner released an hour of English tension in a single instant, the captain wheeling away as the bench emptied behind him. It was his second goal of the night and, by some distance, the most important of England's tournament so far.

England managed the closing minutes with a composure that had earlier eluded them, and when the whistle finally came it was greeted as much with relief as with joy.

Credit must go to Congo DR, whose organisation and courage carried them within 15 minutes of one of the great World Cup upsets. Cipenga's goal will live long in his country's footballing memory, and his team left the tournament with their reputation considerably enhanced, applauded from the pitch by a crowd that recognised what it had witnessed.

The Azteca awaits

England's reward is a fixture to quicken the pulse: Mexico, in Mexico City, at the Estadio Banorte, the stadium known to generations of supporters as the Azteca. It is a venue heavy with World Cup history, and Monday's tie will be, in effect, an away match in the fiercest sense: a full house, a partisan crowd and an opponent lifted by both.

Tuchel's team will travel with questions attached. England were second best for long stretches in Atlanta, and the fluency their manager demands was missing until their captain supplied the sharpest of reminders of his worth.

But tournaments are often shaped by nights like this. England have now survived the kind of examination that ends campaigns, and they have done so with their captain in scoring form and their resolve demonstrably intact. Mexico will pose a different problem, in a different heat, before a different kind of crowd. After Atlanta, England at least know they can absorb a blow and answer it.