FIFA World Cup 2026 warm-ups: Thomas Tuchel calls out England's 'freestyle' football after 1-0 win over New Zealand

England manager Thomas Tuchel admitted he was far from satisfied with his team's performance despite a 1-0 victory over New Zealand in a pre-FIFA World Cup friendly, criticising what he described as ‘freestyle’ football during the opening half. Harry Kane scored the only goal of the match in Tampa on Saturday as England secured the win. However, Tuchel felt his side lacked structure and discipline in the first half before showing improvement after the break. "I am OK with it (the win)," said the former Chelsea and Bayern Munich boss.

"I am not super-happy about it. I like the second half more than the first half. We played more from our positions, and that is why we played with more speed, and off the ball, we played with a bit more bite. In the first half, we were out of position, and it was a bit too much freestyle. That slowed our game down and made it difficult for the counterpress because we were not in the positions that we wanted to be when we started attacking. That is basically the story of the match," he said.

Tuchel also pointed to tactical issues, particularly a lack of width in England's play. "We were taking crosses, a lot of long-range shots, normally not our style of play. We played a lot of long balls, we played a lot of long passes. That was not part of the training in the last four days," he added. One of the biggest positives for England was the return of Jude Bellingham.

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The midfielder made an impact after coming on for Morgan Rogers, bringing energy and urgency to the attack following his injury layoff. Tuchel was full of praise for the Real Madrid star. "Jude has the decisiveness, and he has the bite," Tuchel said. "This is a key characteristic. You can see that he comes back from an injury and is full of energy and happy to be back on the pitch. He had his break, unfortunately, in a decisive part of the season. But you can see now that he is actually in a sweet spot. He comes back, he's fresh, he wants to play, and he is in top shape," he added.

The England boss also praised captain Harry Kane after the striker once again delivered on the scoresheet. "It is a decisive goal. Harry is in top shape, and I think that when the pressure comes, and the tournament starts, that will bring the best out of all our players," he added. The match was played in challenging weather conditions, with the Florida heat testing the players physically. Tuchel believes adapting to such conditions is an important part of England's World Cup preparations.

"We had one training in the sun, and now this match felt really, really odd," Tuchel admitted. "But it is good that we are exposed because that's why we're here. We wanted it that way, and we need to get used to it because it will come at some point," he signed off. England will now travel to Orlando before facing Costa Rica in their final warm-up match on Wednesday. The Three Lions have been drawn in Group L alongside Croatia, Ghana, and Panama and will begin their World Cup campaign against Croatia on June 17 in Arlington.

How to watch and stream FIFA World Cup 2026 in India

You can watch FIFA 2026 on Zee’s new Unite8 Sports network (Unite8 Sports 1, Unite8 Sports 1 HD, Unite8 Sports 2, and Unite8 Sports 2 HD). Multiple group-stage matches taking place simultaneously will be aired across the four channels with English and Hindi feeds. All games will also be streamed live on the Zee5 app and website.

Link: https://www.zee5.com/