By Mark Gleeson
ATLANTA, July 1 (Reuters) - Harry Kane scored twice in the final 15 minutes to see England through to the World Cup round of 16 as they left it late to fight back and overcome a dogged Democratic Republic of Congo 2-1 on Wednesday.
Kane produced another match-winning performance for his country as the captain equalised with a 75th-minute header before thrashing home a stunning winner four minutes from time after England had trailed for more than an hour of an absorbing match.
Brian Cipenga
gave the Congolese a shock seventh-minute lead before Kane delivered his heroics to save his team from an ignominious defeat.
England, who enjoyed overwhelming support in the 68,239-strong crowd, needed all the patience and perseverance they could muster to avoid what would have been one of the tournament’s biggest upsets and now head to Mexico City to play co-hosts Mexico on Sunday.
"First shot, first goal. Then, it became even more difficult," England manager Thomas Tuchel said.
"After the first water break, we were on top of the game. The substitutes came on, and put the effort in, and we won it. It was well deserved, but we had to work a lot."
Cipenga struck home a powerful right-footed shot from a tight angle after being unmarked on the left, beating Jordan Pickford at the near post. It came from a long ball from Congo skipper Chancel Mbemba that went over the head of Noah Sadiki and defender Djed Spence to allow the 28-year-old to put the Congolese ahead with his first international goal.
ENGLAND PRESSURE PUT CONGO ON BACK FOOT
England might have had a fortuitous equaliser 21 minutes later when Declan Rice’s free kick hit a defender's knee and went narrowly wide, but an even better delivery from Rice saw Jude Bellingham’s on-target header repelled by goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi’s one-handed save.
England's pressure in an incident-packed first half continued with Marcus Rashford’s shot cleared off the line by Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Mpasi making instinctive stops to deny Bellingham and Kane, who also had a penalty appeal waved away.
The Congolese had a chance to increase their lead in the 43rd minute when Wan-Bissaka’s cross was steered on to the post by Yoane Wissa.
Mpasi’s heroics continued with a one-handed stop to deny Bellingham early in the second half and England looked increasingly frustrated as Congo’s defenders comfortably dealt with their attacks, prompting several touchline rants at his players by manager Thomas Tuchel who also rang the changes.
The wall finally broke in the 75th minute as the 32-year-old Kane found space in the penalty area to head home substitute Anthony Gordon’s cross, cleverly escaping the marking in typical predatory style.
His next effort, a strike travelling at almost 100 km per hour, was a spectacular winning goal as he drifted across the edge of the Congolese box before shooting home. It was his 13th World Cup goal, taking him one above Pele on the all-time list.
"What a crazy game, their keeper made some unbelievable saves in that first half," Kane said. "From an attacking point of view it was probably our best game of the tournament so far. We're in the part of the tournament where you have to grind wins out and that's what we did today."
(Additional reporting by Trevor Stynes, editing by Ed Osmond)
