England face New Zealand in their first warm-up friendly ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
This match represents the first chance for England World Cup squad to lay a marker ahead of the tournament, whilst New Zealand look to head into the World Cup on a positive note as this is their last warm-up friendly.
Team News
England manager, Thomas Tuchel will be without Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka after the quartet were given extra rest time, due to Arsenal’s involvement in last weekend’s UEFA Champions League Final which they lost to PSG on penalties.
Jason Steele, Alex Scott, Josh King, Ethan Nwaneri and Rio Ngumoha consequently could be involved after they travelled out as training players, with only Steele staying on for the tournament whilst the latter four will be released for their off-season breaks.
New Zealand have no fresh injury concerns after their 4-0 friendly loss to Haiti in midweek, with Joe Bell set to return after he sat that game out with a calf injury.
Ryan Thomas remains ruled out with a hamstring injury.
When is Kick-Off?
England meet New Zealand at Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, USA, on Saturday 6 June at 4pm local time (9pm BST), live on ITV1 and ITVX in the UK.
Stat Attack
- England are yet to lose an international friendly to New Zealand after they won their two previous clashes without conceding in June 1991 (W2), having won 1-0 in Auckland then 2-0 in Wellington.
- New Zealand are playing England at a neutral venue for the first time.
- England haven’t conceded in three consecutive matches since Quarter-Final, Semi-Final and Final of Euro 2024.
- New Zealand have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 10 matches in all competitions (W1, D1, L8).
Prediction
With the eye of the world’s media now firmly on England following Thomas Tuchel’s decision to leave out some significant names like Morgan Gibbs-White, Adam Wharton and Harvey Barnes, this is a first chance for them to show that he has made the correct decisions.
Their performances in March however were pretty lacklustre and boring to put it straight so a massive improvement is required, otherwise this next month could be a long slog for the country’s eyeballs at home never mind those watching it in person at the stadiums.
New Zealand however are just defensively poorer in comparison and with such terrible form coming into this last friendly, I expect them to be fired up for this game in order to give themselves and fans any glimmer of hope at the World Cup.
I however do expect England to claim a routine win given the gulf in quality and form but this won’t be an easy game given the humidity challenges.
Prediction: England 2-0 New Zealand
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