FIFA World Cup: Harry Kane double guides England past Tunisia
Volgograd (Russia), June 19 : Captain Harry Kane scored a brace as England overcame Tunisia with a 2-1 victory in their FIFA World Cup Group G campaign opener at the Volgograd Arena here on Monday.
The Tottenham centre-forward gave England the lead in the 11th minute but Ferjani Sassi converted a penalty to pull Tunisia level in the 35th minute. However, Kane headed home off a corner in the 90+1st minute to give England the winning goal.
The North African side had survived an early onslaught and punched above their weight to counter a talented and youthful English team, playing in a 3-4-2-1 formation. Towards the end, Tunisia thought a draw was a fair result and decided to keep it that way until Kane brought out his second strike in the second-half injury time.
England kept it late to seal the win but their overwhelming start nearly blew Tunisia away. England were all over Tunisia, beginning the match in an emphatic manner.
Barely three minutes into the game, Jordan Henderson sent a cross-field ball towards the right side of the Tunisian box for Dele Alli to bring it down before. But his square pass across the goal to Raheem Sterling was half cleared. The rebound fell to Jesse Lingard, whose drive from the 12 yards out was blocked by a outstretched left leg of keeper Mouez Hassen.
Four minutes later, Sterling overcame three defenders from the left byline before rolling the ball across the face of the goal to the right post where Lingard was waiting. But when the pass arrived, it somehow wrong-footed the teenager and bounced off his shins for a goal kick.
However, the energetic English team was not to be denied the lead for very long as a diving Hassen's block off a header from John Stones following a corner fell at the feet of Kane, who easily tapped it home in the 11th minute.
Hassen, who had injured his right shoulder before the goal, had to be substituted with Farouk Ben Mustapha.
After an overwhelming 20 minutes of attacking football, England took the pace of the game and began to pass the ball around. It allowed Tunisia to reorganise, gather their nerves and keep the ball.
They waited for England to make mistakes and one of those from Kyle Walker proved costly. Battling for a cross, Walker put his arm in the face of Tunisia attacker Fakhreddine Ben Youssef as the latter plunged to the ground. Sassi calmly slotted a penalty into the bottom-left corner, past a diving Jordan Pickford in the 35th minute.
Just before the halftime break, England could have regained the lead but Lingard, again was denied, this time by the post. A through-ball put Lindgard in a race with the on-rushing Mustapha. Lingard tapped the ball around the keeper, but the ball rolled off the left post.
The second-half was devoid of any dynamic move from either side. Compared to the pulsating first 45 minutes, the second half saw the teams trade possession back and forth in the midfield.
England coach Southgate rushed in Marcus Rashford, replacing Sterling as they stepped up their attacking mode.
England, lacking creativity, kept testing Tunisia with set-pieces until they surrendered at the death. A corner from the right saw Harry Maguire flick towards the left, only for Kane to head it home at the near post, rejoicing the English camp and their fans.
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Huge fire at Prayagraj tent supplier warehouse, brought under control after six hours
Prayagraj (PTI): A huge fire broke out in the warehouse of a company, which supplied tenting materials for the recently-concluded Maha Kumbh, at the Parade Ground early on Saturday, officials said and added the blaze was brought under control after six hours.
While there was no loss of life, two officers and five employees of the fire department suffered minor burn injuries while dousing the flames at the Lallu Ji and Tent Company warehouse in the Daraganj area, they said.
Rajiv Kumar Pandey, Prayagraj's chief fire officer, said the blaze was completely controlled.
He said 18 water tenders, including four from the army, were pressed into service to extinguish the blaze that erupted early on Saturday. These also included 10 water tenders called in from Handia, Meja and Soraon.
He added that he himself, another officer and five employees suffered minor burn injuries while extinguishing the fire.
Pandey said the efforts of the firefighting personnel led to tent material and bamboo sticks worth crores of rupees in many nearby warehouses being saved.
Four municipal corporation vehicles were deployed for sprinkling water to protect the nearby godowns. At the same time, 20 employees were evacuated from the burning warehouse.
Pandey said the surrounding settlements, including a slum, were also saved from the fire.
The fire caused four LPG cylinders to explode while two scooters parked on the warehouse premises were burnt to ashes.
District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Mandar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (City) Abhishek Bharti and other senior officers present on the spot coordinated the firefighting efforts.
Several companies supplying tenting materials built their warehouses at Kali Marg of Parade Ground for the Maha Kumbh. After the congregation ended, tenting materials were removed from the fair area and stored in these warehouses.
