New Delhi, July 2 -- The shot that mattered arrived in the 82nd minute, Harry Kane cutting onto his right foot inside the box and drilling the ball into the roof of the net with three DR Congo defenders converging on him. England had trailed for 74 minutes. The 2026 World Cup was seven seconds from producing one of its defining upsets. Kane ended the conversation the only way he knows how.

who scored his 83rd and 84th goals for England in the span of eleven minutes - left the field knowing he had just delivered the tournament's most necessary performance.

What made the occasion genuinely uncomfortable, and not merely suspenseful, was the goal that started it. Brian Cipenga finished in the seventh minute, meeting a Chancel Mbemba cutback...