England’s World Cup adventure begins tonight when they face New Zealand in the first of their three pre-tournament warm-up friendlies.
Thomas Tuchel’s team meet the Kiwis at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
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There will be no involvement for Arsenal players Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Eberechi Eze or Noni Madueke, with the members of the Gunners’ squad only due to join up with England on Saturday itself after being given an extra few days off following their involvement in last weekend’s Champions League final.
Tuchel will be keen to experiment in his three friendlies against New Zealand, Miami United and, next Wednesday, Costa Rica before flying to Kansas City for the beginning of the World Cup.
Asked who he will field against New Zealand, Tuchel said on Friday: “We will share the minutes. We will just give everyone the minutes and give everyone a go. But it’s also to reconnect to our identity and the stuff we did well.”
The England manager will be expected to take a look at understudy goalkeepers Dean Henderson and James Trafford at some point during the two games.
Henderson only joined up with the squad in Florida on Wednesday following an extended rest period of his own after keeping a clean sheet for Crystal Palace in last week’s Conference League final triumph in Leipzig. He is left on the bench here, though, with Jordan Pickford between the sticks.
Morgan Rogers and Jude Bellingham will be competing for game time in the No10 position, but it is the former who gets the nod here.
Ethan Nwaneri, Josh King, Rio Ngumoha, Jason Steele and Alex Scott have been training with the squad in Florida and are available to make their international debuts in either the New Zealand or Costa Rica games, but all four are left out.
England XI: Pickford; Spence, Stones, Guehi, Quansah, Henderson, Mainoo, Rogers, Rashford, Watkins, Kane
Subs: Konsa, O’Reilly, Anderson, Bellingham, Livramento, D. Henderson, Burn, Gordon, Toney, Trafford, James, Scott, King, Nwaneri, Ngumoha
Not available: Rice, Saka, Madueke, Eze
Time and date: 9pm BST on Saturday June 6, 2026
Venue: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida
