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The Live Sport Bible is here!Tuchel rues England's 'freestyle' start in NZ friendly
Press Association • June 7th, 2026 7:48 pm
All Whites goalkeeper Max Crocombe and England's Harry Kane | Photo: Douglas DeFelice / Photosport
Thomas Tuchel was frustrated by England's "freestyle" first-half display against New Zealand as World Cup preparations stepped up with a scrappy 1-0 win in sweltering conditions.
Having flown to Florida at the start of the week for a warm-weather training camp, the build-up continued on Saturday (Sunday NZ Time) in the first of two friendlies.
Tuchel, as planned, switched the entire team in Tampa at halftime against the lowest-ranked team at the World Cup.
England led at the break after Harry Kane brilliantly steered home Djed Spence's cross in stoppage-time.
All Whites shows improved defensive effort against England | Studs Up Podcast
It proved the only goal at a sparsely-filled stadium, but the coach liked more of what he saw from the second half having been frustrated by some of the players' earlier approach.
"I'm OK with it," England coach Tuchel said. "I'm not super happy about it. I liked the second half more than the first half.
"I think we had more bite in the second half, were more aggressive on and off the ball, created a bit more. Some good half chances and some good penetrations into the box.
"We played more from our positions and that's why we played with more speed."
Lowly-ranked New Zealand gave England some headaches, as Marcus Rashford found out | Photo: AP
Tuchel continued: "The first half we were out of positions and it was a bit too much freestyle.
"That slowed our game down and made it difficult for counter-press because we were not in the positions that we wanted to be when we started attacking, so that's basically the story of the match.
"To put it in context, a lot of our players played the last time together in November, so it's half a year ago.
"We have four training sessions together and we mixed the team up completely, so we never played before in these combinations and formation to give everyone 45 minutes.
"Then you have the conditions, the pitch, it can look like this."
Tuchel was glad his side were exposed to "really, really hot" conditions on Saturday, having had to deal with some rain and grey skies at their West Palm Beach base.
England play their second friendly against Costa Rica on Wednesday (Thursday NZT).
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