England players were on the receiving end of a half-time reproach from manager Thomas Tuchel as their World Cup campaign got off to a victorious start against Croatia.
England defeated Croatia 4 – 2.
Harry Kane’s double and a goal apiece from Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford ensured England secured a 4-2 win in Dallas.
But having taken the lead twice in the first half, the score was 2-2 at half-time and captain Kane said Tuchel delivered an important half-time message to the team.
“I thought it was a game of two halves. In the first half, we were OK,” Kane told ITV.
“[We were] really disappointed to concede in the way we did. I thought we dropped off.
“Credit to the manager, he gave us a speech at half-time and said if we lose, we lose in our way, and I think we saw that in the way we came out in the second half.
“We went full gas and they couldn’t live with it. Credit to everyone for the first game of the tournament.”
In a separate interview with BBC Sport, the Bayern Munich striker added: “The boss said at half-time to up the tempo, go man for man and completely take the game to them, and that is exactly what happened.
“You saw us at our best level, both with and without the ball and we could have scored three or four goals in that 20-minute spell in the second half.
“We did what we needed to do and finished the game off nicely at the end.”
Asked what he said to his team at half-time, Tuchel told ITV: “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 half-time team talk seemed to have an almost immediate impact as Bellingham scored within two minutes of the restart to put England 3-2 ahead.
The Real Madrid midfielder told ITV: “It wasn’t one of those where it was a big drama or standing up and shouting; it was what the team needed.
“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.”
‘I could not see my team’
The clash in Dallas was Tuchel’s first as a World Cup manager.
But he revealed the occasion, particularly the emotion of the national anthems, was spoiled by a wall of photographers blocking his view.
“I have to tell you something. I’m begging Fifa to change the position of the photographers in the national anthem, because I could not see my team. It was a very special moment today, and I was standing in front of a wall of 50 photographers and I could not see one single player. It ruined a little bit my experience today.
“It is very emotional. Listen, when I was young, and even when I started coaching, this was too big to dream of, to have this kind of a career.
“I felt the spirit, and what it means to be part of a World Cup. It’s just amazing, and I felt very, very alive the last two days. I didn’t want to be anywhere else in the world than here.”
