Harry Kane said Thomas Tuchel’s ‘speech’ at half-time was key to England’s improved performance in the second half of their 2026 FIFA World Cup opener against Croatia.
England kicked off their campaign in north America with a 4-2 win over Croatia, winning three consecutive World Cup openers for the first time in their history.
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Despite being the superior team on paper, the Three Lions found themselves tied at 2-2 at halftime, with Martin Baturina and Petar Musa’s goals cancelling out Kane’s brace. However, Tuchel’s men came out strongly in the second half, scoring two more goals through Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford to secure all three points.
Speaking to reporters after the game, Kane credited Tuchel’s half-time message as what motivated their second-half display, saying the manager told them to go all out.
“Credit to the manager, he gave us a speech at half time and said: ‘Look, if we lose, we lose, but we lose in our way,” he said. “I think you saw that in the second half. We came out full of gas and they couldn’t live with it. That’s the level we have to set in every game.”
Kane, meanwhile, took his World Cup goals to 10, equalling Gary Lineker’s record for the most goals scored for England’s men’s national team at the tournament.
For Tuchel, it was a dream World Cup debut as a manager. In the match against Croatia, England created the most big chances in a World Cup match since 1966 (7), had the second most shots on target in a World Cup match since 1966 (11) and recorded the third-highest xG by any team at the 2026 World Cup so far (2.80).
“The effort was enormous” – Tuchel on England’s win in World Cup opener against Croatia
Tuchel admitted Croatia posed a threat in Wednesday’s outing, noting that his players showed signs of exhaustion in the dressing room after the match. He, however, noted that there will be some rest and recovery for the players.
“The effort was enormous because we were not very clean when we won balls, the first and second touches after a ball win, we were not clean enough,” he explained. “We lost a lot of those moments, and you work a lot, a ball loss after a ball win is the most tiring thing you can have. So we are exhausted but I love exhausted players in the dressing room and I think we needed this. Today there are only positives and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, we fix all the other stuff.”
The Three Lions sit atop their group, having scored more goals than Ghana, who sit second. Next up for Tuchel’s men is a clash with the Black Stars of Ghana.
Edited by Ezekiel Olamide
