Luka Vuskovic made his World Cup debut against England on Wednesday night, coming up against the likes of Tottenham legend Harry Kane.
Matchday 1 of the FIFA World Cup has now passed, which means several Tottenham Hotspur players have already taken to the pitch.
Sunday saw the Netherlands feature and the two Spurs stars on display – Jan Paul van Hecke and Micky van de Ven had contrasting fortunes in terms of their performance against Japan, which ended in a 2-2 draw.
Wednesday saw Argentina and Romero feature, and it was an emphatic 3-0 win for the defending champions.
Still, yesterday, two other Spurs stars were in action, with youngster Luka Vuskovic making his first start on the world stage as Croatia took on England.
Tottenham’s Djed Spence, who was perhaps one of the surprise call-ups, also featured for the Three Lions as they looked to make a strong start to the tournament.
How Tottenham youngster Luka Vuskovic fared against England
Both Spurs players endured contrasting fortunes, with Spence not featuring from the start, while Vuskovic was named in the starting XI, although he lasted just 66 minutes.
However, that did little to prevent Harry Kane and co. from running riot as England swept Croatia aside with a 4-2 victory.
Vuskovic did not enjoy the easiest of afternoons, struggling at times to deal with the quality in the Three Lions attack.
The Croatian defender was handed a 6.4 FotMob match rating, which was, in fairness, the highest of Croatia’s back three, which also included Josko Gvardiol and Josip Sutalo.
He did put up respectable numbers, completing 37/42 passes, four of which were into the final third. He also made seven defensive contributions and won 2/4 of his ground duels.
| Stat | Luka Vuskovic |
|---|---|
| Match rating | 6.4 |
| Minutes played | 66 |
| Touches | 53 |
| Passes completed | 37/42 |
| Pass accuracy | 88% |
| Defensive contributions | 7 |
| Dribbles completed | 1/2 |
| Passes into final third | 4 |
| Tackles | 0 |
| Blocks | 1 |
| Clearances | 5 |
| Headed clearances | 3 |
| Interceptions | 1 |
| Recoveries | 6 |
| Ground duels won | 2/4 (50%) |
Spurs defender Djed Spence makes impact off bench
Spence, on the other hand, featured for just 10 minutes but still managed to make an impact after coming on for England.
In possession, he looked assured, completing five of his six passes, while he also came close to getting on the scoresheet late on, only to see his effort saved by Dominik Livakovic.
| Stat | Djed Spence |
| Minutes played | 10 |
| Accurate passes | 5/6 (83%) |
| Defensive contributions | 1 |
| Tackles | 1 |