England's Harry Kane, left, celebrates his winning goal with England's Ashley Young. Photo / AP
England's Harry Kane, left, celebrates his winning goal with England's Ashley Young. Photo / AP
What happened overnight? England narrowly avoided becoming the fifth former champion to stutter in their first game at the 2018 tournament, with skipper Harry Kane scoring an injury-time goal to help the Three Lions defeat Tunisia 2-1.
Earlier in Group G, Belgium flexed their muscles against anadmittedly inferior Panama outfit, eventually outclassing the Central American World Cup debutants 3-0.
Sweden also got their campaign off to a winning start, beating South Korea 1-0 by way of a penalty awarded by the VAR.
Heroes While tournament powerhouses Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Spain and Portugal all failed to win their opening matches, Belgium cruised to victory in their first encounter.
Manchester United front-man Romelu Lukaku was the central figure, netting a brace to take his international tally to 38 goals in 70 games, including 15 in the last 10. His first came courtesy of an exquisite cross from the outside of Kevin De Bruyne's right boot; it was just the second pass he'd played to Lukaku in 69 minutes of football.
Belgium's Romelu Lukaku celebrates after he scored his side's third goal. Photo / AP
Earlier, Dries Mertens volleyed home a belting opening goal for the Belgians, followed by his traditional celebration where he forms a heart with his hands to symbolise his support of numerous charities, from the homeless community where he plays in Naples to the local dog shelter. He's also been known to visit patients in hospital after matches.
A word too for Harry Kane, whose brace gave England victory in their opening game after a draw looked inevitable as the clock ticked past 90 minutes.
Villains The VAR. Again. While it got a decision right in the night's first game which led to Sweden's winning goal, it also spectacularly failed to spot Tunisian penalty area interference on Kane that wouldn't have looked out of place in a WWE bout.
The Sweden v South Korea game was one of the poorest of the tournament so far, with the Asian nation failing to muster a single shot on target. It would be a pretty tough watch at any time, let alone midnight when you're already sleep-deprived.
Meantime, Panama were given five yellow cards in their match; the last time a team were given more in a single World Cup game was the spiteful 2010 World Cup final when the Netherlands had seven players booked.
They said what? Former England striker Gary Lineker: "Come on VAR, this is a joke."
Panama coach Hernan Dario Gomez: "It would have been terrible if they had scored more. It is not a positive result, but they could have won by a landslide and there were people that thought we would lose by seven goals."
Stat chat Sweden's win was their first in a World Cup opening match since 1958, breaking a seven-game winless run in their opening games at World Cups.
Belgium's last 11 World Cup goals have all come in the second half.
Thirteen European teams have now played at this World Cup. The only one to lose is Germany.
Did you know? Viewing figures have revealed that 99.6% of all people watching TV in Iceland during their opening game against Argentina were tuned into the football. What were the other 0.4% watching?
What's next? The last four teams we're yet to see at the World Cup play their opening games tonight.
Colombia start the day's action against Japan at midnight (NZT), followed by Poland's clash with Senegal at 3am.
Hosts Russia then play their second match from 6am, knowing victory over Egypt will seal their place in the knockout rounds while effectively eliminating the Africans.
