The starter’s pistol of the 2026 World Cup sounded a week ago and at last everyone is out of the blocks. England stumbled into view before gathering their stride against Croatia in Dallas, winning 4-2 having contrived to throw away their lead twice in the first half. Thomas Tuchel’s half-time speech helped to spark the turnaround, telling his players to throw off their shackles and “show the world who you can be”. The world saw a second-half performance to suggest that England are true contenders to win this tournament and a first-half effort that screamed the opposite. Tuchel’s assistant coach Anthony Barry described that opening half as “fearful” - an English state of mind with a rich lineage at previous tournaments and one from which they will have to break if they are ever actually going to win this thing again.Ken Early was in Dallas for us. The other game in England’s group saw a belated sighting of Carlos Queiroz, who, much like Shakira, uses World Cups to prove he is still on the go. He is in charge of Ghana nowadays, and they opened with a scrappy, hectic 1-0 win over Panama thanks to Caleb Yirenkyi’s 95th-minute tap-in. In the late game, Uzbekistan felt the great joy of their first-ever World Cup goal before succumbing 3-1 to Colombia. Abbosbek Fayzullaev had the honour for Uzbekistan, equalising on the hour mark before Luis Diaz regained the lead for Colombia five minutes later.Finally, Roberto Martinez defended his selection decisions after the Democratic Republic of Congo held the Cristiano Republic of Portugal to a 1-1 draw in Houston. Ronaldo didn’t have a shot on target and yet played all 90 minutes in a moribund performance. He hasn’t scored a non-penalty goal at a tournament since Euro 2020, and yet Portugal remain chained to Ronaldo in the way Prometheus was chained to the rock. Just don’t expect to things to change. “It makes no sense to get the best goalscorer in world football out in a game that you need goals,” said Martinez. England are at least aware they have to move on from the past.Results: Group K – Portugal 1 (Joao Neves 6) DR Congo 1 (Yoane Wissa 45)Group L – England 4 (Harry Kane 12, 42, Jude Bellingham 47, Marcus Rashford 85) Croatia 2 (Martin Baturina 36, Petar Musa 45+5)Group L – Ghana 1 (Caleb Yirenkyi 90+5) Panama 0Group K – Uzbekistan 1 (Abbosbek Fayzullaev 60) Colombia 3 (Daniel Munoz 40, Luis Diaz 65, Jaminton Campaz 90) Goal of the day: Abbosbek FayzullaevWatch Uzbekistan’s goal Okay, the dodgy goalkeeping costs this some style points, but who can resist a nation’s maiden World Cup goal? Moment of the day: These DR Congo fans in LisbonHappily a small clutch of DR Congo fans turned up to a watch party in Lisbon and weren’t shy in revelling in it. Picture of the day: Some people are saying England fans held up the best banner in the world during their game against Croatia; other disagree. Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images Question of the day: England beat 4-1 Croatia in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. Which forward scored a hat-trick in Zagreb, but never played a World Cup match, despite being included in a squad? (Answer below) Coming up today: Group A – Czech Republic v South Africa (5pm Irish time, RTÉ2 & BBC One); Mexico v South Korea (2am, RTÉ2 & BBC Two)Group B – Switzerland v Bosnia & Herzegovina (8pm, RTÉ2 & UTV); Canada v Qatar (11pm, RTÉ2 & UTV)Elsewhere in sport: The US Open begins today, at the celebrated venue of Shinnecock Hills in New York. Dave Hannigan details the darker parts of the venue’s past and its contentious branding. Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry are joined in the field by Pádraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell, and David Gorman has you covered on all the necessary TV details.In Gaelic football, Tomás O’Sé tells Gordon Manning why Kerry should not shirk the challenge of Armagh , while our columnist Ciarán Murphy basks in the joy of a Championship day out in Salthill - despite the traffic. Answer to question: Theo Walcott