England 1 New Zealand 0: Who made a case for a starting role? How did Thomas Tuchel’s side cope with the heat?
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In their penultimate friendly before the World Cup begins, England beat New Zealand, the lowest-ranked team to have qualified for the tournament, by a single goal scored by captain Harry Kane in first half stoppage time.
Playing in the punishing heat, England dominated possession for long periods but did not create clear chances. Then, with the half-time whistle imminent, Djed Spence sent in an in-swinging cross from the left and Kane met it with superb, deft flicked header that nestled in the bottom corner of the net.
Thomas Tuchel changed his entire team for the second half and while there were flashes of individual quality — and an England debut for 17-year-old Liverpool winger Rio Ngumoha — the game continued to be played at a fairly lacklustre tempo.
While Tuchel will have wanted to see his team win more convincingly, he will be pleased to have avoided any obvious injuries and gotten game time in the Florida conditions.
Dan Sheldon on the key talking points from England’s warm-up friendly at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
Who is ahead for the left-wing role: Rashford or Gordon?
Rashford was arguably England’s biggest threat from an attacking standpoint in the first half and had several good moments. The only thing lacking was a clinical edge.
But his battle for with Gordon to start on the left wing is a genuine one, and the Manchester United player, who spent last season on loan at Barcelona, certainly didn’t do any damage to his chances of starting England’s World Cup opener against Croatia on June 17.
Rashford looked incredibly sharp, creating five chances in the first half, and was constantly trying to probe the New Zealand defence.
As planned, he was replaced by Gordon, who has joined Barcelona from Newcastle United in a €80million, at half time, with the 25-year-old then given his chance to showcase his talent in Tampa.
And, similar to the Rogers and Bellingham debate, you would have to argue it is advantage Rashford when comparing their two performances.
Gordon ultimately struggled to make the impact he would have been hoping for, and, beyond a couple of dribbles from the left, including a nice cut onto his right foot before breezing past a player, the rest of his second half wasn’t overly memorable.
How did England cope with the heat?
England were deliberate about managing their players’ workload by limiting each player to 45 minutes against New Zealand.
It was 33C (91.4F) at kick-off, which is hotter than many of them would be used to playing in back in England, but they appeared to cope OK with the demands.
The first three-minute hydration break, which will be mandatory during the World Cup, saw the players immediately head over the the sideline where they were given ice packs to put around their necks to cool them down.
It was a similar story in the second half, with the same process being followed in terms of the ice packs being used to regulate their body temperature.
One thing that undoubtedly helped England is that they dominated possession against New Zealand, the lowest-ranked team in the World Cup, meaning they did not have to spend much of the match chasing shadows in an attempt to try to retrieve the ball.
It will be an entirely different challenge running around in 33C heat when they are desperately trying to win the ball off a far superior side to Saturday’s opponents.
On the dugout, Tuchel, his coaching staff and the substitutes kept cool by having a large fan blowing towards them.
Morgan Rogers v Jude Bellingham – who has the edge?
If this friendly was going to serve as a battleground between Rogers and Bellingham for the No 10 role, then it is undoubtedly advantage Bellingham.
Rogers was given the nod by Tuchel in the first half, but relatively ineffective by his usual brilliant standards, and failed to get on the ball to make any kind of material impact in attack. He had one shot from outside the box that flew over the bar.
Other than that, there were not any other moments worth shouting home about.
Bellingham, however, who captained England in the second half, took a matter of minutes to showcase his class, unlocking New Zealand’s defence with a beautiful pass to Anthony Gordon with the outside of his boot.
Jude Bellingham showed his class after coming on at half-time (Rich Storry/Getty Images)
England played with more zip in the second half and Bellingham was at the heart of that.
You could also make the case that it was smart man-management on Tuchel’s behalf to give Bellingham the armband, having started with Rogers in the first half.
Was the Tampa pitch a problem?
Tuchel spoke of his concern about the newly-laid pitch, and it didn’t look particularly great on Saturday, although Trey Altman, the man responsible for overseeing the turf at Raymond James Stadium, posted online to ease any worries.
Yes you can still see the seams and I would love for it to be darker green but there are zero concerns about the playability and safety of the field today. pic.twitter.com/WWWs8XrDxy
— Trey Altman (@treyaltman) June 6, 2026
It was definitely not a carpet-like surface, nor did it replicate anything close to what you will see in the Premier League, but to say it had any material impact on the game would be somewhat of a stretch.
Yes, the ball occasionally took an odd bounce, but that was about the extent of it.
Who is favourite to start alongside Guehi?
John Stones saw plenty of the ball in the opening 10 minutes and was playing higher up due to England dominating possession.
However, as the first half progressed, he looked like a player who, understandably, has been lacking match action, having only made only made five appearances for Manchester City in the second half of an injury-laden 2025-26 campaign.
New Zealand had a couple of bright moments down England’s right, the side Stones was defending on, but ultimately failed to capitalise.
John Stones wins a header above Chris Wood (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
Tuchel adores Stones and was always going to bring him to the World Cup, so long as he could play, and the 45 minutes would have done him the world of good as he builds his match fitness back up.
He was replaced by Ezri Konsa at half time, and the Aston Villa centre-back had very little to do as England totally dominated the second half.
England’s friendly against Costa Rica in Orlando on June 10 may provide a better view as to who who Tuchel may opt for to be in his starting XI once the World Cup gets underway.
What next for England?
Wednesday, June 10: England v Costa Rica, Orlando, FL (9pm GMT, 4pm UK)