World Cup 2026: England 4-2 Croatia – Thomas Tuchel told England players to ‘go for it’ in half-time team talk

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.”