With England’s first World Cup match now less than a month away, preparations are taking shape as Thomas Tuchel’s squad will play two friendlies in early June, according to the schedule. Both fixtures are intended to help the team acclimatise to the sweltering summer conditions they will face across the tournament in the US, Canada and Mexico.
England will meet New Zealand on June 6 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, the home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with kickoff set for 9 p.m. BST (4 p.m. local time), according to the schedule. The June 6 meeting will be the third occasion the sides have faced each other and England’s first encounter with New Zealand since June 1991.
The second friendly comes on June 10 against Costa Rica at Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando, also kicking off at 9 p.m. BST (4 p.m. local time). Costa Rica have not qualified for this edition of the tournament, and England last met them at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Both warm-up matches will be shown on ITV1 in the UK, according to the schedule. The matches in south Florida are part of England’s efforts to prepare for the heat ahead of the tournament, which begins on June 11.
For the duration of the World Cup, England will be based in Kansas City, Missouri, with their training camp at Swope Soccer Village, one of Sporting Kansas City’s training facilities. The squad will travel from their Kansas City base to all tournament matches. England’s group stage opener is against Croatia on June 17 at Dallas Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, with a 9 p.m. BST kickoff; they follow with fixtures against Ghana in Boston on June 23 and Panama in New Jersey on June 27.
