World Cup: England’s free-scoring forwards catch fire at the right

Hungary’s record of 27 goals at a single World Cup is probably just about safe, but make no mistake: England are coming for the Qatar scoring title. With four games played, Gareth Southgate’s side have already already matched the tally of the 2006 world champions and blown by Spain’s tally on the way to glory in South Africa four years later. England have 12 goals to their name at the World Cup. No one else has hit double figures.

The title of England’s own Golden Boot winner promises to be fiercely contested with Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford on three. Harry Kane might be two off them, but after his best performance of the tournament so far, his teammates can rest assured that he will be looking for more goals to go with his three assists.

To see such numbers, one might assume that this is a free-flowing side making chances at will, imposing their will on opposition and fizzing the ball from one end of the pitch to another in only a few short passes. In patches it can be, but this is a team as capable of scoring with the beauty and precision of Saka and Jordan Henderson as it is spending half an hour with no real idea how to progress the ball out of their own third. In a heartbeat, they can…