Going into the final round, England, Croatia and Ghana all had the opportunity to emerge as group winners.
England's 0-0 draw against already relegated Panama at half-time set the stage for a table reversal, as Croatia took the lead against Ghana in the second match.
In the second half, however, England pressed on and after 62 minutes Jude Bellingham put the ball in the net for 1-0. Five minutes later Harry Kane made it 2-0 - and thus became England's all-time leading World Cup scorer with eleven goals.
It's difficult to score against them, and we were the only team to create so many chances and score two goals," said England coach Thomas Tuchel after the match.
We will improve. The bigger the games, the better we will perform.
Croatia won the second match 2-1 and thus managed to clinch second place in the group. However, Ghana is one of the eight best group third-place teams and advances to the playoffs.
It is not yet clear which teams will be the opposition in the round of 16.
