Dramatic England WCup win against Tunisia breaks 2018 TV record

LONDON: England’s last-gasp win against Tunisia at the football World Cup was Britain’s most-watched television programme of 2018, attracting a peak audience of 18.3 million, according to the BBC on Tuesday.

Monday evening’s game in Volgograd, which was decided by captain Harry Kane’s injury-time header, had a 69.2 percent audience share at its peak, beating last month’s royal wedding.

Around three million requests were also made to stream it online, making it the highest ever live audience for an online BBC broadcast.

Skipper Harry Kane scored a brace as England started their World Cup campaign with a fighting 2-1 victory over Tunisia. After his early 11th minute lead was negated by Ferjani Sassi’s goal from spot-kick in the 35th minute, Kane scored the winner in the stoppage time to give England all three points.

Tunisia coach Nabil Maaloul said Kane was the difference between the two teams.

“It was him who was always there at the right time. He is the optimal striker,” he said. “The spaces that were created by Kane were very scary to us.”

England had promised to launch their campaign with attacking football and they tore into Tunisia from the start of the Group G game, their red-shirted players buzzing into open spaces.

Tunisia came to Russia with a reputation for being hard to break down. Instead they were opened up repeatedly by England early on, especially on the right flank with Kieran Trippier posing attacking menace with his pace and incisive crosses.