Thomas Tuchel made it plain that when the stress came with the serious business of World Cup matches, he believed his England team would thrive. And so it proved in the Lone Star state, where England made a statement about that second star with a thrilling 4-2 victory over Croatia in their opening game of the 2026 tournament.
For 45 minutes, however, it was anything but plain. A seesaw first half ended 2-2, with Harry Kane scoring twice – the first from a retaken penalty – but Martin Baturina and Petar Musa replying for Croatia. England’s defending was too open and generous; the overall sense in open play was one of confusion. “The first half was a bit complicated for us,” Tuchel said. “It was a bit nervy. The decisions we took, we chose to go safe and go backwards.”
“England beat Croatia 4-2 in World Cup opener after Tuchel's half-time rally inspired second-half comeback”
At half-time, with the tension palpable, Tuchel gathered his players. Harry Kane later revealed the manager’s words had a big impact. When asked by ITV what he said, Tuchel replied: “Even if we lose, it will not change my perception of the last 17 days but let's do it our way. We were too focused on protecting the result. We were a back seven and 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.”
The effect was immediate. Within two minutes of the restart, Jude Bellingham – determined to play without fear – drove into the box and finished clinically past Dominik Livakovic to make it 3-2. “It wasn't one of those where it was a big drama or standing up and shouting; it was what the team needed,” Bellingham said of Tuchel’s speech. “We have a mature group with great leaders in there; everyone knew the level we had to get to. The start of the second half gave us a great platform.”
England created a fistful of chances after that. Tuchel’s substitutes made an impact: Djed Spence almost made it 4-2 before Marcus Rashford did, a jink inside and low shot laid on by another replacement, Bukayo Saka. Croatia remained a threat – substitute Marco Pasalic almost scored, only for Jordan Pickford to save with a smart block – but England had too much. Tuchel noted a telling statistical shift: “I saw a statistic of 33% of ground duels won in the first half and 73% in the second, so even off the ball was not good enough, not committed enough. I loved the reaction of the players in the second half. It was emotional; there were a lot of emotions involved.”
It had been wild at the outset, England guilty of messing about with their buildup play. The pendulum swung with an early goal sparked by Noni Madueke, whom Tuchel started ahead of Saka. After Croatia could not clear a Declan Rice corner, Madueke beat Luka Modric to the breaking ball; Modric’s attempted clearance turned into a hack and Kane scored from the spot. That moment, with Kane thinking about his critical miss in the quarter-final loss to France at the last World Cup, set the tone for a game that England ultimately controlled. England are up and running – and Tuchel’s faith in his team’s ability to thrive under stress has been vindicated.