England revealed Harry Kane produced a second-half masterclass to overwhelm Croatia in their World Cup opener, with manager Thomas Tuchel giving an enthusiastic half-time speech.
Thomas Tuchel’s words led England to victory over Croatia (Image: ITV Sport)
Manager Thomas Tuchel encouraged England to aim for a break before beating Croatia in the second half of their first World Cup match.
England equalized at half-time despite Harry Kane taking the lead twice in the first half, but after the restart Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford scored crucial goals as the Three Lions won 4-2.
Kane revealed Tuchel’s influence during the break, saying the England manager’s wise words in the dressing room had a huge impact.
Asked about his speech on ITV, Tuchel said: “Even if we lose, it doesn’t change our perception of the last 17 days, but let’s do it our way. We were too focused on defending the result. We were in a back seven so we didn’t defend. If the result doesn’t go our way, we want to play our way. I tried to encourage them to go for it.”
Commenting on the overall performance, Tuchel added: “(The reaction) was good. The first half was a little complicated for us. We were a little nervous. The decision we made was to go back safely. We struggled to find our rhythm and didn’t have the confidence to break through the gaps.”
“I saw the statistics that our ground game win rate was 33% in the first half and 73% in the second half. So, we weren’t off the ball enough, we weren’t working hard enough. I liked how our guys reacted in the second half. It was emotional. There was a lot of emotion involved. It took a while to get going.”
Harry Kane scored twice alongside Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford to dethrone Croatia (Image: Photo by Marvin Ibo Guengoer – GES Sportfoto/Getty Images))
Bellingham gave England a perfect start to the second half, driving into the penalty area and clinically past Dominik Livakovic in the 47th minute to make it 3-2.
Referring to coach Tuchel’s words at half-time, the Real Madrid midfielder said: “It wasn’t a big drama, it wasn’t a standing-up-and-screaming game. That’s what the team needed. We had a mature group with a great leader and everyone understood the level we needed to reach. The start of the second half gave us a great foothold.”
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