Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka came off the bench to inflict the knockout blow as England beat Croatia 4-2 in Dallas, a victory built on Thomas Tuchel's deliberate rugby-style 'finishers' strategy. The England boss calls his substitutes 'finishers', a tactic borrowed from rugby where replacements are sent on to win the game when the opponent is worn down. It worked to great effect in the World Cup opener: Rashford scored a late goal after Saka provided the assist, while two other subs, Morgan Rogers and Djed Spence, were involved in the build-up.
Noni Madueke, who started and won a first-half penalty, and Anthony Gordon were replaced by Saka and Rashford. Tuchel admitted the decision was very deliberate. 'Yes. Always. All four of them,' he said of the substitutes' impact. 'The level they were competing against each other was at the highest level, especially in the last week in training. We had some 10 against 10s in training and some finishing patterns, some attacking patterns, some defensive patterns.' Tuchel added: 'It is now four more weeks and in four weeks you can swallow it and digest it and buy into it. We selected the group because we were sure that they could do it and they all can.'
“Thomas Tuchel's substitutes scored and assisted to secure England's 4-2 win over Croatia in their World Cup opener.”
Saka and Rashford, who might usually expect to start in major tournaments, shone after coming on. 'They pushed on the buttons and pushed on the gas and kept suffocating the opponent,' Tuchel said, recalling a similar impact in a friendly against Costa Rica. The win puts England top of Group L, and they could confirm top spot with a game to spare, depending on other results. But the immediate takeaway is the strength of Tuchel's bench, a weapon he plans to use again through the tournament.