Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Germany and Brazil all failed to win their opening games at the World Cup so England and Belgium have every right to be pleased with their respective Group G results.
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The Three Lions needed a stoppage-time goal from captain Harry Kane to snatch a 2-1 success over Tunisia.
"Good teams score late goals," manager Gareth Southgate told the BBC straight after the match.
England's start was brilliant and they threatened to blow away Tunisia with fast-paced football which created several chances.
They were rewarded when Kane had a simple task of finding the net from a rebound on 11 minutes.
"We played really well in the first half and deserved to take the lead," Kane said.
But England weren't and a contentious penalty somehow gave Tunisia a chance they scarcely deserved to draw level.
The North Africans then stifled England's attack in the second half before Kane's last-ditch intervention.
"I'm delighted for him as we'd be asking questions about him not scoring in tournament football if he hadn't scored," Southgate said.
Kane, England's 24-year-old captain, drew a blank at EURO 2016 but has since notched 10 goals in eight internationals over 2017 and 2018.
"I think he was behind the victory of the English team, it was him who was always at the right time and he is the optimum scorer," Tunisian coach Nabil Maaloul said.
Next up for England are minnows Panama, who managed to keep Belgium at bay for 47 minutes before the Red Devils scored three second half goals in a comfortable 3-0 win.
A stunning Dries Mertens angled volley sparked the Red Devils before Romelu Lukaku scored twice as one of the tournament heavyweights flexed their muscles against the Central American World Cup debutants.
"Getting the first win is always a special moment," Belgium coach Roberto Martinez said.
Panama's supporters in the 43,257 crowd vastly outnumbered the clutch of 1,000 or so Belgians and every tackle by the Central Americans was cheered to the rafters as if it were a goal.
However, the gulf in class of the players was obvious.
Panama, meanwhile, acknowledged that the difference in class had told.
"Some people may say that three goals is a lot but honestly three goals against the team we played against today, ... this was a normal result, or even abnormal if you consider that it should have been worse," Panama coach Hernan Gomez said.
Meanwhile, Sweden accounted for South Korea 1-0 after a penalty decision, which appeared clear cut in real time, needed a video review to confirm the outcome.
"There was no doubt it was a penalty and should have been called right away," Sweden coach Janne Andersson said.
The delay was no problem for veteran captain Andreas Granqvist who cooly slotted home the winner.
In somewhat bizarre post moment comments, South Korea coach Shin Tae-yong focused on Sweden's height advantage and admitted this affected his team.
It doesn't get any easier for Korea in Group F with games against Mexico and Germany to come.
Australian Associated Press
