Thomas Tuchel lavished praise on Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham after England opened their FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign with a commanding 4-2 victory over Croatia in Dallas, describing his captain as "all in" and his No 10 as a model team player.

Kane struck twice in the first half to equal Gary Lineker's record of 10 England World Cup goals, while Bellingham added a third early in the second half and Marcus Rashford completed the scoring late on — cancelling out two Croatia equalisers along the way.

Kane's commitment on full display

Tuchel was moved to highlight a moment beyond Kane's goals — a last-ditch, full-body block on a Josko Gvardiol shot deep into extra time — as the defining image of his captain's performance.

"If you see the commitment of our captain, of our No 9 in the extra time, to block a crucial shot after a set-piece with all his body and his commitment to buy into a defensive action like this then you know everything about his performance today," Tuchel said.

"A complete performance. Absolute leader. He's all in. Physically, mentally. It's the full package at the moment. He wants it and he leads by example, so we're very happy."

Bellingham wins the battle for the No 10 role

Bellingham's place in the starting eleven was not guaranteed coming into the tournament, with Aston Villa midfielder Morgan Rogers pushing hard for the attacking midfield berth. Tuchel acknowledged the decision to leave Rogers out was far from straightforward.

"You can rely on Jude in these moments. He loves these pressure games. That brings out the best in him," said Tuchel.

"It's an easy decision to let him play and trust him, also because of the last 17 days — how he bought into the idea of team spirit, the idea of brotherhood and the idea of how we want to play football, which is a slightly different position to his position at Real Madrid."

Tuchel, who had previously been critical of Bellingham, was emphatic that the Real Madrid star had earned his place through selfless commitment to the collective.

"The tough decision was to say to Morgan Rogers he will not start, because he deserves 100 per cent to start and he did ever so well for us," Tuchel added. "Jude was very reliable and did his very best to be a top team player for us."

Tuchel urges Rashford to stay hungry

Rashford, who had gone 15 England appearances without a decisive contribution before Wednesday's match, came off the bench to score England's fourth — capping a revival that began during a loan spell at Barcelona in the second half of the season.

"I'm very happy for him that he got this relief and I hope he stays hungry for the next one and the next one, because he was absolutely impressive through the last 17 days and really deserved his goal," Tuchel said.

He added that Rashford's attitude in camp had left a strong impression: "He's totally invested in every meeting, he's very fast in translating a meeting onto the pitch — what we want tactically. I was so happy he was the one to unlock this long spell where he was not decisive for us."

England top Group L and face Ghana next.