England secured a 1-0 victory over New Zealand in a World Cup warm-up match at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on Saturday, June 6, 2026.
Harry Kane scored the decisive goal in first-half stoppage time before 25,889 spectators in sweltering 35-degree heat.
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The Three Lions dominated possession with 71% and fired 23 shots against the 85th-ranked New Zealand side.
Manager Thomas Tuchel implemented extreme squad rotation, fielding a completely different lineup in each half to give all players minutes.
Tuchel Unhappy with First-Half Performance
Tuchel expressed dissatisfaction with his team's tactical discipline in the opening period. He criticized the players' positional structure before halftime adjustments improved the display.
"I'm OK with it," Tuchel said. "I'm not super happy about it.
I liked the second half more than the first half."
The manager noted that poor positioning hindered the team's ability to execute defensive pressure after losing possession.
"The first half we were out of positions and it was a bit too much freestyle," he explained.
"That slowed our game down and made it difficult for counter-press because we were not in the positions that we wanted to be when we started attacking."
Tuchel highlighted that the team relied on long balls and long-range shots, which deviated from their usual style.
"We played a lot of long balls, a lot of long passes. That was not part of training in the past four days," he said.
