By Michael Church
ARLINGTON, Texas, June 17 (Reuters) - Thomas Tuchel praised his side's ruthless response to a chaotic first-half performance as England opened their Group L campaign at the World Cup with a 4-2 win over Croatia in Dallas on Wednesday.
Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford struck in the second 45 minutes to seal victory after Harry Kane had twice seen goals cancelled out by Croatia in the opening half when Martin Baturina and Petar Musa netted for Zlatko Dalic's side.
"I love the second
half, all of it," Tuchel said. "I love the reaction to a very complicated first half against top opponents.
"I think we showed a bit of nerves, maybe we wanted to overdo it, but we clearly overthought our decisions, it took us too long to take decisions. When we could play short we played long, and when we could play long we played short.
"We spent way too much time in a low block, which is also not our identity, and not what we wanted to have. The leads, both leads, didn't make us more free. I had the impression we had to protect something now, we were punished for it, which is psychologically not easy. But I love the reaction after halftime."
England had appeared in control when Kane gave his side the lead in the 12th minute with a retaken penalty but Baturina's clinical strike levelled the scores before Kane scored his 10th World Cup career goal with a pinpoint header.
Musa's equaliser in stoppage time capped a thrilling first half but the English asserted greater control after the interval with Bellingham and Rashford's strikes securing the points.
"There's still things to improve," said Tuchel. "I think this is also quite normal.
"After a first match, you need to grow into a tournament. We got a tough draw in the tournament, so the positives are clearly the ones we will focus on now and enjoy the moment, and we have enough days to adjust."
Tuchel praised Kane's "absolute commitment" after the Bayern Munich forward made a late intervention in his own penalty area to deny Croatia a third goal and revealed that midfielder Declan Rice was taken off as a precautionary measure.
"I saw a bit of discomfort and I asked him, and he pointed directly to this lower back, up behind the hamstring," said Tuchel. "I didn't want to take any risks.
"It was the moment to protect him, and I think Reece James did so well to replace him in central midfield, a fantastic game. I hope it's nothing more and he reassured me at the end, it's good, it's good."
(Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Toby Davis)
