England Edge New Zealand 1-0 in Experimental Tampa Friendly

England defeated New Zealand 1-0 in a friendly match in Tampa on 6 June 2026. Harry Kane scored the only goal just before half-time. England fielded 22 different players across the two halves, the first time the team has used that many players in a single match since June 2004 against Iceland.

Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka were rested after their club commitments. Ivan Toney made his first England appearance in over a year when he entered in the second half. John Stones played 45 minutes alongside Marc Guehi, and Reece James played 45 minutes at right-back.

Seventeen-year-old Rio Ngumoha came on as a second-half substitute and became the fifth youngest player to represent England. Ngumoha is traveling with the squad in the United States but is not part of the World Cup roster. England head coach Thomas Tuchel said the team had only four training sessions together before the match.

"To put it in context, a lot of our players last played together in November. That's half a year ago. We had four training sessions together, then mixed the team up completely," Tuchel said. He added that he was happier with the second half, noting more hunger and desire from the players.

Tuchel reported no injuries from the match. He said tomorrow would be a recovery day, followed by two days of preparation for the next friendly. Arsenal players will join the squad after the New Zealand game.

England's next friendly is against Costa Rica in Orlando on 11 June 2026. Their opening World Cup 2026 match is against Croatia in Dallas on 17 June 2026. Former England defender Stephen Warnock said the players were operating at about 60 percent of capacity due to the climate.

"The most important thing is how they start the tournament. If they win the game against Croatia, nobody will care about these two warm-up games," Warnock said. Tuchel said he has a group of 14 to 15 players in contention to start the opening World Cup match.