England captain Harry Kane marked his record-breaking 126th cap with the winning goal, as the Three Lions set up a shootout with Spain for top spot in their group.
England got the job done against Croatia in their penultimate UEFA Nations League group stage match, with goals from Morgan Rogers and Harry Kane giving them a 2-1 victory.
In what was a largely subdued contest, England professionally dispatched their opponents without getting out of first gear.
Morgan Rogers opened the scoring, unorthodoxically finishing off a deflected Jude Bellingham cross from six yards out, to give the Three Lions a 1-0 lead going in to the break.
Petar Sucic capitalised on some calamitous defending from Jarell Quansah to level proceedings, before Ivan Smolcic dragged down the England centre back in the box, leading to VAR awarding England the penalty.
Kane dutifully slotted home, sending Dominik Livakovic to the side and burying the penalty straight down the middle of the goal.
James Garner thought he'd scored his first England goal off the bench just before full time, but the linesman flagged Jude Bellingham offside in the build up.
As a result of tonight's victory, England head to Madrid for their bumper showdown against Spain with the possibility of topping their group, should they beat their opponents by two or more goals.
England v Croatia Timeline
24' - GOAL for England! Scored by Morgan Rogers, assisted by Jude Bellingham
HT - England 1-0 Croatia
59' - GOAL for Croatia! Scored by Petar Sucic, no assist
63' - Yellow card for Ivan Smolcic (CRO)
64' - GOAL for England! Scored by Harry Kane (Penalty)
70' - Ante Budimir and Mario Pasalic replace Igor Matanovic and Petar Sucic (CRO)
76' - Luka Modric and Marco Pasalic replace Ivan Smolcic and Josip Misic (CRO)
78' - James Garner, Ben White and Rio Ngumoha replace Declan Rice, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Anthony Gordon (ENG)
90' - Lovro Majer replaces Mateo Kovacic (CRO)
FT - England 2-1 Croatia
England v Croatia Match Stats
England | 2-1 | Croatia |
54% | Possession | 46% |
2.81 | Expected Goals | 1.22 |
15 | Shots | 13 |
4 | Shots on Target | 5 |
3 | Big Chances | 3 |
4 | Goalkeeper Saves | 1 |
6 | Corners | 7 |
496 (89%) | Completed Passes | 410 (88%) |
9 | Fouls Committed | 9 |
25 | Clearances | 17 |
0 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
0 | Red Cards | 0 |
