England had to really work for its place in the World Cup round of 16 … like, really work. It wasn’t pretty, or even entertaining. DR Congo will also feel aggrieved to be going home. But England is through the first knockout round—mainly because of Harry Kane.Argentina has Lionel Messi. France has Kylian Mbappé. England has Kane. He’s that level of elite.England trailed for large parts of Wednesday’s round of 32 tie in Atlanta, falling behind to an early goal from DR Congo winger Brian Cipenga. From that moment on, the onus was on England to do something to change the match and get in front, or else endure one of its worst ever eliminations.DR Congo sought to squeeze the space in which England could attack, having seen Thomas Tuchel’s team struggle against low blocks already in this tournament. But there remained occasional offensive threat, too, with Yoane Wissa striking the post before halftime.Ultimately, England was too sluggish prior to the first hydration break, failing to test its opponent. That started to change in what remained of the first half, but England still trailed to that early Cipenga goal by the time the teams were again called to take on water with only a quarter left.Match MomentumKane … Better Than Pelé?Kane hadn’t played particularly well. He’d tried to engineer a penalty for England in the first half, arching his body to initiate contact with goalkeeper Mpasi-Nzau in the box in the hope the referee would view it as a foul. He didn’t and penalized Kane, awarding a free kick Mpasi-Nzau’s way instead.The Bayern Munich striker hadn’t done much else in the match until forcing Mpasi-Nzau into a save in first-half stoppage time. But great players never accept defeat and his next shot, albeit a half-hour later on the game clock, was the equalizer. The next, 11 minutes after that, the matchwinner.The first goal was a clinical header that a player of Kane’s ability would be expected to convert, after the cross went into the box from Anthony Gordon. The second was another assist for Gordon, although the new Barcelona winger did only a fraction of the work. Kane made the space for the shot by moving the ball into position and then rifled a shot past Mpasi-Nzau there was no chance of saving.Earlier in this tournament, Kane surpassed Gary Lineker as England’s all-time leading goalscorer at World Cups. He now has 13 career World Cup goals, which is one more than Brazil icon Pelé. He is also right back into the Golden Boot conversation, level on five goals for this tournament with Erling Haaland, and only one behind Messi and Mbappé (both six).Relying heavily on individual brilliance is not sustainable over a long-term period, like in a marathon club season, but the World Cup is a sprint. England clearly has issues to resolve with intensity, energy and general creativity, but as long as Kane is in the team, there is always a chance.Match StatsRice at Right Back Should ContinueEngland lacked creative ingenuity or quality on the ball in wide areas. Playing through the middle of the pitch proved close to impossible and starting wingers Noni Madueke and Marcus Rashford too frequently didn’t meet intended targets with aimless cross—they combined for three accurate crosses out of the 14 attempted. Neither finished the match on the pitch.When Tuchel wanted an extra creative player, he removed stand-in right back Djed Spence to make the room for Eberechi Eze. That meant Declan Rice dropping out of midfield and into the fullback role, as he has sometimes also done for Arsenal.Here’s the thing. Rice is a world-class midfielder, but also a pretty good right back. With Tino Livramento withdrawing before the tournament began and Reece James nursing an injury of his own, England doesn’t have a natural replacement—Spence is typically a left back.Taking Rice out of midfield obviously has drawbacks, but England is yet to play with Kobbie Mainoo, who was central to the team reaching the final at Euro 2024 two summers ago. The Manchester United midfielder is capable of controlling a game from the center and has a skillset as a play-making No. 6 that can complement Elliot Anderson in the more explosive No. 8 role.How the Teams Lined UpMatch SummaryREAD THE LATEST WORLD CUP NEWS, ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT FROM SI FCAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow