New York, June 11 (IANS) Thomas Tuchel was pleased with what he saw from his team, as England swept aside Costa Rica in Orlando to take one more step towards the FIFA World Cup 2026.

Although the kick-off in Orlando was delayed for an hour after a torrential storm flooded the pitch, England produced a crisp and aggressive performance, in contrast to Saturday’s lackluster outing against New Zealand.

An early goal from Declan Rice set the Three Lions on their way, before a second-half penalty from Anthony Gordon and a late header from Ollie Watkins sealed the victory.

“I wished for that, I demanded that; I said before the match we want to push it to the next level, from intensity, commitment, cohesion, and we did that,” said Tuchel as quoted by Xinhua.

“We see the adaptation to the heat, and we see things clicking, but we demanded it today from the players to take the next step, and they did. The result takes care of itself, but we did it on a high level,” he added.

Tuchel said earlier that the fact England hasn’t won the World Cup since 1966 means it can’t be considered one of the favorites for the tournament, but he was positive in his post-game assessment.

“The work rate gives us a good feeling and intensity, and we can impose ourselves on the opponent, and the movement is up front and not running backwards,” he said, before singling out Bellingham for praise.

“I wanted to see Jude in the combination today for the first time with Harry [Kane], Elliot [Anderson] and Declan [Rice] at the center of the game. I know what Morgan [Rogers] gives us there; I just saw it so many times. It was the first time for Jude, and he buys into these ideas. He has to, and he loves to do it, and that’s part of our game.”

England will play a closed-doors friendly against local side Miami United on Thursday before facing Croatia in its first group match on June 17.

–IANS

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