Roy Keane, Gary Neville and Ian Wright were full of praise for England following their 4-2 victory over Croatia in their first World Cup 2026 group stage game of this summer’s tournament.
The Three Lions had twice taken the lead in the first half, through a Harry Kane brace, but were pegged back by goals from Martin Baturina and Petar Musa.
After the second half restart, England came alive as Jude Bellingham’s individual run and strike restored their lead before Marcus Rashford came off the bench to add a late fourth and secure three points.
Speaking on ITV following the final whistle, Keane explained how Thomas Tuchel and the team will be ‘delighted’ by the performance but that England still need to be wary going forward.
“They’ll be delighted. Scored four goals, the attacking players obviously having an impact, subs coming on and doing well, controlling the game,” said the former Manchester United captain.
He added: “They looked dangerous at set pieces and I think it’s good, though strange, that they conceded a couple of goals because it keeps them on their toes. I think if they’d won three or four-nil the two lads [Neville and Wright] would have been on the table!”
Neville went further and attributed the second half turnaround to Tuchel’s team talk lighting a fire under the players with that view also echoed by Harry Kane during his post-match interview.
“He’s [Thomas Tuchel] given them an absolute rocket at half-time hasn’t he?” Neville suggested. “They’ve come out and for 20 minutes in that second half they were breath-taking.
“What I liked about it then is they had to sit off and play a bit deeper. He [Tuchel] makes the substitutions and they have a big impact and we go and get that fourth [goal]. It was a really good second half and some of the stuff in the first 10 minutes was fantastic.”
Ian Wright also praised England’s attacking mindset and how they looked ‘dangerous’ once they clicked into gear.
He said: “People will talk about the defensive side and what happened in the first half but I thought they surprised us a bit with the way they pressed.
“I can’t remember a time when England have gone forward so well, played so well and looked so dangerous. We can always work on the defensive side.”
