Thomas Tuchel admitted he would never substitute Declan Rice unless he was concerned about an injury after the midfielder was taken off during England's 4-2 victory over Croatia in their 2026 World Cup opener. A brace from Harry Kane, along with second-half goals from Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford, ensured the Three Lions started their campaign in style in the United States. However, fears emerged over Rice's fitness after he was substituted.
Match Highlights
Kane opened the scoring from the penalty spot at the second attempt after his first effort was saved. The spot-kick was retaken due to encroachment and goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic coming off his line. Martin Baturina equalized for Croatia before Kane headed England back in front from a Rice corner. Petar Musa stunned England by making it 2-2 in first-half stoppage time. After the break, Bellingham and Rashford scored as England took control of the game.
Rice Substitution Raises Concerns
Rice, who won the Premier League title with Arsenal last month, was surprisingly brought off while England led 3-2 in the 72nd minute and replaced by Morgan Rogers. ITV suggested that the 27-year-old limped off the pitch while being substituted.
Speaking to ITV after the match, Tuchel said: "Let's see. I hope they are OK. Normally I would never take Declan out but I didn't want to take any risk. The reaction was excellent, the effort was enormous because we were not very clean with the first and second touch after we won balls. We were not clean enough and lost a lot of these moments and then you work a lot. A ball loss after a ball win is maybe the most tiring thing you can have and we had a lot of them so we are exhausted. But don't get me wrong, I love exhausted players in a dressing room and I think we needed this. It's a strong opponent, it's pressure, first game of the tournament and we got our win. Today it's only positives and tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, we fix all the other stuff."
Tuchel Praises Second-Half Response
Tuchel added on the victory: "Good second half, good reaction. I think first half was a bit complicated for us, a bit nervy. The decisions we took, we chose to go safe and play too many balls backwards. We didn't have the confidence to go through the gaps. We were not brave enough or committed enough. I love the reaction of the players in the second half, it was excellent. We deserved to win. There were a lot of emotions involved and it took us a while to get going but we did get going and that's positive."
He continued: "I just said, '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 the result and protecting what we didn't have in the moment. The second goal is an example, I think we were a back seven and we didn't defend the goal."
