Harry Kane reveals half-time Tuchel pep-talk inspired England to victory over Croatia
Harry Kane revealed that a half-time speech from Thomas Tuchel inspired England to victory in their opening match of the 2026 World Cup. The England captain scored twice in the first half to equal Gary Lineker's record for most goals by an England player at World Cup finals, but Croatia equalised twice before the break. A much-improved second-half display saw Jude Bellingham restore England's lead before substitute Marcus Rashford sealed a 4-2 win.
"The manager gave us a speech at half-time just to say: 'Look, if we lose, we lose in our way,'" Kane told ITV. "And I think you saw that. We came out in the second half full gas and they couldn't live with it, and that's the level we have to set in every game."
England's performance was transformed after the break, with a more aggressive approach without the ball. "Without the ball, we went a bit more aggressive. It was difficult. They have players like Luka Modric dropping in and you're trying to figure out who to pick up. The way we controlled the game once we went ahead, we never really looked like we were in danger and then scored on the counterattack," Kane added.
There were concerns when Declan Rice appeared to limp off in the second half, while England's defence looked shaky at times. Tuchel's assistant, Anthony Barry, acknowledged the team's nervous energy in the first half. "I think there was a lot of nervous energy early on – maybe that should be accepted and expected in the opening game of a World Cup," he said. "From there we made some decisions where the energy was not free in our mind, playing long when we should play short, playing short when we should play long, not allowing us to accelerate our game the way we wanted."
Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic was disappointed with his side's performance after they had fought back from 2-0 down. "The start of the second half was poor, they broke away and we conceded a goal. I can't really comment now on what happened with the third and fourth goals, we reacted poorly and that's it. It was difficult to get back into the match," he said.
