Wright praises Tuchel's team spirit after England's 4-2 comeback win over Croatia

England opened their 2026 World Cup campaign with a 4-2 victory over Croatia, and former striker Ian Wright says the togetherness he witnessed at Thomas Tuchel’s training camp earlier this month helps explain the team’s second-half resurgence.

Harry Kane scored twice in the first half, only for Martin Baturina’s brilliant strike and Petar Musa’s fine finish to level the contest. Tuchel’s half-time intervention drew a sharp response, with Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford adding goals after the break to seal the win. Assistant coach Anthony Barry had described England’s first-half display as ‘complicated and confusing’.

Wright, speaking to ITV after spending time behind the scenes at England’s warm-up camp, was effusive about the environment Tuchel has created. “What I saw with the time that I spent with them, they seemed very together,” Wright said. “Everybody seemed very jolly, very calm, very cool about everything. When you see Thomas Tuchel going into different groups and talking to them, it’s not like people are uncomfortable with him. Everything was quite tactile and quite nice.”

Wright attributed the atmosphere to Tuchel’s awareness of the constraints of international management. “I think because he’s been the club manager and not the international manager and doesn’t get them as often, I think he’s trying to impart as much love and joy that he can simply because he doesn’t get them long enough.”

Kane praised Tuchel’s half-time message, and the head coach himself was candid about both the flaws and the positives of the performance. “I think the reaction was excellent, the effort was enormous because we were not very clean when we won balls,” Tuchel said. “We learn a lot from these moments. We are exhausted but don’t get me wrong, I loved exhausted players in the dressing room. I think we needed it against a strong opponent.”

Tuchel added that the group stage opener brought its own pressures. “It’s pressure, it’s the first game of the tournament. We got our win, so today it’s only positives and the day after tomorrow we fix the rest.”

England top Group L following the result. They face Ghana in Boston on Tuesday, after Ghana defeated Panama 1-0 in their opening fixture.