Nobody panic — everything is fine.
That was the message England fans were desperately telling themselves as they watched their team trail a Congo DR side ranked 46th in the world for most of a sweltering afternoon in Atlanta. This game was bonkers. England was denied a penalty that half of the English media is still furious about, had a shot cleared off the line, were repeatedly stonewalled by a goalkeeper having the game of his life, and spent 74 minutes looking like a team that had forgotten how to score.
And then Harry Kane happened. Twice. England is through to the round of 16, but they were pushed to the absolute brink to get there.
Here are my four takeaways from England’s 2-1 win over DR Congo:
(Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
Let’s be honest about England’s tournament so far. A fun 4-2 win over Croatia, then a flat 0-0 draw with Ghana, and a labored 2-0 win over Panama that only came alive after halftime. Harry Kane, by his own colossal standards, had been quiet. Going a goal down inside seven minutes to Congo DR fit that uneasy pattern perfectly. England forgot how to break down a defensive low block.
But here is the thing about Kane: when the moment is biggest, he arrives. He leveled it in the 75th minute, meeting an Anthony Gordon chip with a header of surgical precision. Then, with England’s World Cup teetering, he did it again in the 86th. Another Gordon delivery, another header, another ruthless finish tucked into the top corner — a world-class second-half brace to win the game in one of the biggest moments of Harry’s life.
Before this tournament, plenty of people called Kane the best striker on the planet. 64 goals with Bayern Munich in 2025-26 will do that. He hadn’t quite looked himself here, but today, when his team needed their captain most, he delivered. That is what the greats of the game do.
Photo by Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)
Give this Congo DR team its full due.
Brian Cipenga set the tone in the seventh minute, lashing a near-post finish past Jordan Pickford to stun the stadium. From there, the Leopards defended with a structure, a discipline, and a belief that almost nobody outside their camp saw coming. They held England’s expensively assembled attack at bay for 74 minutes and nearly went 2-0 up when Yoane Wissa, their Newcastle talisman and group-stage star, rattled Pickford’s post. Wissa scored three goals at this World Cup, matching the number he netted all season for Newcastle United.
The Congolese squad has many Premier League connections, and that familiarity showed. Aaron Wan-Bissaka of West Ham and Burnley’s Axel Tuanzebe were immense at the back, while Sunderland’s Noah Sadiki scrapped for everything in midfield. But the true hero wore the gloves. Lionel Mpasi, the Le Havre goalkeeper, produced five saves, twice denying Jude Bellingham with reflexes that had nothing to do with luck. Congo DR didn’t just show up. They led for most of the day and made England sweat through every pore. No shame in this exit. Only pride.
(Photo by Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
