Thomas Tuchel is not backing away from England's approach before the Croatia opener in Dallas. Temperatures will exceed 30C by kick-off, Dallas Stadium is an air-conditioned indoor venue, and mandatory hydration breaks will split matches into quarters with 3-minute intervals. Even with that in place, Tuchel says he is not interested in changing the way England play.

Why Tuchel is resisting a tactical rethink

"I'm just not ready to adapt into a different style of football because of circumstances that we cannot influence. I think we would just give up our strengths," Thomas Tuchel told BBC Sport. That is the core of his position, and it is a fairly hard one to argue against. If the style is built around a young, active group, there is little point in stripping back the very thing he has been working toward.

He pushed that point further by saying: "They want to be active with the ball. We have a young group. We have a courageous group. We have a brave group of players. So let's go for it. I mean, no one guarantees you that we win. So we want to at least try it, our style and our belief." The football point is obvious enough, England are not being asked to reinvent themselves for a difficult climate, just to stay faithful to the plan.

What the numbers say about England and Croatia

The case for sticking with the style is helped by England's recent World Cup output. Across their last five World Cup matches, they scored 13 goals and conceded 3. That is not a team that has been thriving by shutting the game down. Croatia, though, are hardly a soft opener, they conceded 2 goals across their last five World Cup matches, so England vs Croatia is set up as a proper test rather than a warm-up.

Tuchel's line is the sensible one. The heat is real, the venue is indoors, hydration breaks will be there, and the conditions may affect volume and intensity. But he is right to resist the idea that England should dilute their own strengths before the tournament has even started.

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