Croatia coach Otto Baric conceded his side had lost to a better team - but refused to single out England's goal hero Wayne Rooney for special praise.
"Rooney makes all the difference. He is a very good player - although I wouldn't say a phenomenon," said Baric.
"There are at least 10 players in Europe who may stop him.
"We had to change a lot of things due to injuries and we made some changes but we gave them too much space - ultimately we lost to a better team."
He added: "England will be a very tough opponent for any team to beat.
They may win their next match. They are very very good.
"After they went behind England played very attacking football.
They came back after going behind and then scored again before the
"Since we had to win we had to throw caution to the wind."