'If we lose, we lose in our way' - how Tuchel inspired 'fearful' England

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This video can not be played Figure caption, Highlights: England beat Croatia 4-2 in thriller By Sami Mokbel Senior football correspondent in Dallas Published 18 June 2026, 00:15 BST Updated 6 hours ago 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. 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." To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This video can not be played Figure caption, England at 'best level' in second half against Croatia - Kane England score four against Croatia in World Cup opener Who was the biggest attacking threat? England player ratings Published 13 hours ago Football Daily podcast: Kane and Bellingham put on a show 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." Speaking to ITV at half-time, Tuchel's assistant Anthony Barry described the first half display as "fearful". "Overall, a complicated and confusing first half from us, really," said Barry. "A lot of nervous energy early on. I think that's accepted and maybe expected in the opening game of a World Cup. "From there, then we made some decisions where the energy was not free in our minds. Playing long when we should play short, playing short when we should play long really, not playing through the gaps, not allowing us to accelerate our game the way we wanted to. "You'd think the penalty would free us up, allow us to play more like us, to be ourselves, but again we fell back into some fearful patterns." 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 a