AP Photo England's Harry Kane (9) celebrates after scoring a goal during the World Cup Group L soccer match between England and Croatia in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas on Wednesday.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Hey, Jude, you and Harry didn’t let England down.

Harry Kane scored twice to equal the English record for World Cup goals, and Jude Bellingham put England in front for good two minutes into the second half of a 4-2 victory over Croatia on Wednesday.

Martin Baturina and Petar Musa answered each of Kane’s first-half goals in a rematch of a 2018 semifinal won by Croatia. Musa’s goal came on the final play before the whistle ending the first half.

The even score didn’t last long once play resumed.

Bellingham took a long pass from Elliot Anderson and stayed clear of the defender the rest of the way, sending a shot past Dominik Livakovic and in off the far post. Marcus Rashford padded the lead in the 85th minute.

AP Photo Ghana's Caleb Yirenkyi (3) celebrates scoring the game-winning goal during the World Cup Group L soccer match between Ghana and Panama in Toronto on Wednesday.

“He just told us to let the shackles off,” Kane said of coach Thomas Tuchel’s halftime message after Croatia pulled even so late before the break. “The way we conceded that second goal is not the team we want to be. He finally just said, ‘What’s the worst that can happen? We lose the match, first group game, we get on with it.’ We move on. Just go and kind of show the world who we can be.”

Kane, who won the Golden Boot at the 2018 World Cup in Russia by scoring six times, is up to 10 World Cup goals, tying Gary Lineker’s mark from the 1986 and 1990 tournaments.

The 32-year-old’s first goal came on his second chance on a penalty kick after Livakovic’s save on the first try was nullified by a video review that showed both his feet off the goal line as Kane was striking the ball.

Kane went the same way toward the right post with the second attempt, while Livakovic lunged the other direction, to his right.

The penalty was called when Luka Modric, the 40-year-old midfielder who extended his Croatian record by appearing in his fifth World Cup, kicked Noni Madueke in the thigh.

Kane matched Lineker’s mark when the Bayern Munich striker easily beat Livakovic with a powerful header off a corner kick from Declan Rice. Kane has 81 international goals.

“We scored two goals that were good actions and good situations, but they were too little,” Croatia coach Zlatco Dalic said through an interpreter. “England was very difficult, (we) also have to be strong on the defensive side.”

Bellingham almost immediately had another great scoring chance after the Real Madrid player’s seventh international goal. Livakovic made that save and about a half-dozen more in a matter of minutes during a frenetic English attack.

“We could have scored probably three goals in that 20-minute spell coming out (after halftime),” Kane said. “In the end, we just had too much for a great team that will probably go far in the tournament themselves.”

Musa scored the first World Cup goal for an active player from Dallas of Major League Soccer, which plays its home games about 40 miles from AT&T Stadium.

The retractable-roof venue that is home to the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys is giving World Cup fans an air-conditioned reprieve from the muggy Texas heat, this time for white-clad English fans and Croatian supporters who were mostly wearing their country’s familiar red-and-white checkered uniforms, not the blue kits the players had on.

Musa tracked a header from Ivan Perisic and put a one-timer past Jordan Pickford, who was also beaten in the 36th minute by Baturina. That shot into the left corner ticked off Pickford’s hand.

Bukayo Saka’s pass left plenty of room for Rashford as the Barcelona player entered the penalty area, faked a shot with his left foot and scored his 19th international goal with his right.

“I loved the second half, all of it,” Tuchel said. “I encouraged them to go for it. To play with more courage, to be brave, to be ourselves. And like I said, I loved their reaction.”

England next plays Ghana in Foxborough, Massachusetts, in Group L on Tuesday, the same day Croatia plays Panama in Toronto.

GHANA 1, PANAMA 0

TORONTO (AP) — Caleb Yirenkyi tapped in a cross from Brandon Thomas-Asante in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time, and Ghana beat Panama 1-0 on Wednesday night in the teams’ World Cup opener.

At the end of a game that saw few chances for either side, Thomas-Asante got loose on the left side and fired the ball across the goal mouth. Yirenkyi knocked it in, sending his teammates streaming onto the field.

Ghana played without midfielder Thomas Partey, who was denied entry into Canada while he awaits trial on rape charges in England.

The late goal denied Panama its first World Cup point.

The only shot on goal in the first half came two minutes in, when Panama forward Cecilio Waterman latched onto a low cross from Amir Murillo and clipped a ball from the center of the box toward the net. Ati-Zigi dove to his right and palmed the ball away.

The goalkeeper left the game at halftime after bearing the brunt of a couple of hard collisions. He was replaced by Benjamin Asare.

The result puts Ghana at the top of Group L with England, which beat Croatia 4-2 earlier in the day.

After the first hour, when chances came at a premium at rainy BMO Field, the match opened up and both teams started smashing shots toward the net.

In the 65th minute, Thomas-Asante broke through Panama’s back line and played a ball along the 6-yard box toward Jordan Ayew, but Jiovany Ramos ran up from behind with a tackle to prevent the tap-in.

PORTUGAL 1, DRC 1

HOUSTON (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo and his Portugal teammates were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw by Congo on Wednesday in their opening match at the World Cup.

Congo, which was playing at the World Cup for the first time in 52 years, became the second African nation to make a strong start in the tournament against European competition following Cape Verde’s 0-0 draw with Spain on Monday.

“The World Cup is a tournament where this happens,” said Portugal coach Roberto Martínez, a Spaniard who coached Belgium to the semifinals at the 2018 tournament. “At times the performance is not up to the challenge.”

Playing in front of a crowd of 68,777 spectators at NRG Stadium, which was mostly filled with Portugal supporters, Congo earned its first point at the World Cup after losing all three of its previous matches.

Many Congolese were prevented from traveling to the United States for this year’s tournament because of restrictions tied to Ebola.

“There was not enough blue in the stands, but the players are tough and they know how to overcome challenges,” Congo coach Sébastien Desabre said. “But I’m sure that many Congolese people are proud of their team today.”

João Neves gave Portugal an early lead in the sixth minute. The 5-foot-7 midfielder headed in a cross from Pedro Neto.

But Yoane Wissa equalized for Congo with a header in stoppage time at the end of the first half off a cross from Arthur Masuaku, delighting the small pockets of blue-clad fans. It was the first World Cup goal for Congo in its history.

“It’s crazy,” Wissa said. “Fifty-two years later we are here, we are back. It’s been long, it’s been difficult. So scoring that goal, it means a lot for all Congolese, for me, for my family, for the fans who showed up today.”

Congo’s only other World Cup matches came at the 1974 tournament in West Germany, when the team was known as Zaire and lost to Scotland 2-0, Yugoslavia 9-0 and Brazil 3-0.

“The goal changed things,” Martínez said. “We almost felt the fear of not losing the game.”

For Portugal, it was the lack of goals that stood out. Ronaldo missed shots wide right in the 68th and 73rd minutes. He shook his head in disgust after both.

Martínez was asked if he considered taking out Ronaldo on Wednesday.

“It makes no sense to get the best world scorer to be out when you need goals,” the coach said. “The experience of Cristiano in the box is important. The way that he attracts defenders is important.”

Ronaldo became the oldest outfield player to start a World Cup match, taking the record set four years ago by Canada midfielder Atiba Hutchinson. Cameroon great Roger Milla is the oldest outfield player to appear in a World Cup match, coming on as a substitute at 42 years old during the 1994 World Cup.

Ronaldo also joined Argentina captain Lionel Messi as the only players to appear in six World Cups. Ronaldo can move out of a tie with Messi, who had a hat trick on Tuesday, by becoming the first player to score in a sixth tournament if he does manage to get one into the net this year.

Beside Ronaldo’s efforts, Bruno Fernandes had a chance to put Portugal ahead in the 90th minute but his shot also was wide right.

Portugal looked to have taken the lead in the 55th minute on a bicycle kick by João Cancelo, but he was ruled offside.

Soon after that, Cédric Bakambu’s attempt to put Congo in front failed when his shot bounced off the near post.

The parents of Diogo Jota, a member of the Portugal team who died alongside his brother in a car crash last summer, attended the game in a luxury suite.