Declan Rice felt England did exactly what was asked of them in a 3-0 win over Costa Rica on Wednesday, revealing that Thomas Tuchel demanded far more intensity from them.
Rice opened the scoring within the first 10 minutes in Orlando, with Anthony Gordon netting a penalty in the second half and substitute Ollie Watkins nodding home a third late on.
It was a dominant performance against a Costa Rice side without much threat and keeps them on course for their World Cup opener against Croatia on Wednesday.
The performance was a step up from the low-key 1-0 win over New Zealand on Saturday and Rice says that is exactly what Tuchel demanded.
All the World Cup action
Get everything you need to know about the World Cup – England updates, the games to watch and stories you missed – in five minutes, at 1pm, every day. Sign up here.
‘The manager was onto us before the game to ramp it up,’ the Arsenal midfielder told ITV. ‘Intensity with the ball, counter-pressing and I thought the performance tonight was top from everyon.
‘Even the boys that came off the bench, it was outstanding in the second half. Really good last game before it all starts.’
Rice was very positive about how the team was coming together, pointing out the link-up with Gordon and Nico O’Reilly as an encouraging point.
‘I think we’ve adapted, you can see the heat’s not really a problem now, I think the first week or 10 days has been adapting to the heat,’ he said.
‘I think playing with him [Gordon] and Nico, we’ve been speaking all week about how we’re going to rotate and be fluid, and you’ve seen that in the first half.
‘I think you see as a group we’re building confidence and building fitness going into the first game we’ve got more training sessions, we’re going to keep building and it’s really good.’
Tuchel was equally thrilled with the performance and result, sounding like he got exactly what he had asked for from his players.
‘We did very well, we deserved to win, we should have had more goals,’ said the manager. ‘We could easily have scored more, created a lot but the attitude, the energy and the intensity was on a very high level.
‘Everyone did well, it’s not about one individual player today, it was a very good team performance. We wanted to have this push to the next level and we clearly got it. Everyone in the stadium could feel it.
‘We did a lot for it, we worked hard, counter-pressing was good, defending, attitude, togetherness. Everything on a very, very high level.’
Certain positions in Tuchel’s team still seem up for grabs, such as left wing between Gordon and Marcus Rashford and no.10 between Jude Bellingham and Morgan Rogers, but the boss said Wednesday night did not decide anything for him.
‘No. Tonight just makes my mind very calm because we’re on absolutely the right way,’ he said. ‘I’m very proud of what I saw today from the team spirit and behaviour.
‘The guys who came in were super influential. The guys who came out were pushing from behind on the bench. Exactly what we wanted.’
Asked if he knows his XI to take on Croatia next week, he said: ‘No. I will now find XI for tomorrow’s game and then I have another six days.
‘Today was exactly what we wished for and exactly what we wanted.’
The win over Costa Rica was the final official friendly before the campaign begins, but England have another behind-closed-doors contest on Thursday against Miami United, where Tuchel’s players have one more chance to impress.