Harry Kane scored his 79th England goal shortly before half-time to give Thomas Tuchel’s side a laboured 1-0 victory over New Zealand in Tampa, Florida – a performance that left more questions than answers just days before the World Cup.
The goal, assisted by Djed Spence at the Raymond James Stadium, came on a sweltering evening where the heat and a difficult pitch made fluid football almost impossible. “It’s not easy,” Kane told ITV. “The heat is what we’re here for, to prepare for the tournament. The pitch wasn’t great, to be honest, it was really hard.”
“Harry Kane scored his 79th England goal to secure a laboured 1-0 win over New Zealand in a World Cup warm-up.”
New Zealand are the lowest-ranked team in the 2026 tournament, yet England struggled to break them down. Twenty-two players were handed caps – including a first for 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha, who will not be at the World Cup barring an injury crisis. Tuchel used the match to test options, but few enhanced their chances of starting against Croatia in Dallas. Marcus Rashford was the exception: lively on the left, he created a chance for Kane and whipped in two shots in a minute, though neither was on target.
“We had four good training sessions,” Tuchel said. “We had this split game for everyone with 45 minutes in the heat on a very difficult pitch. It is not easy, we have a win, we have a clean sheet. We can keep on going, the energy is right. The quality will come, I think the better the opponent gets the better we will get.”
Kane, who netted 61 times for Bayern Munich this season, said: “I’m feeling good off the back of a tough season with a couple of injuries for the first time in my career. I feel strong, I feel better than I did at the start of the season. I’m feeling excited and ready.”
England have one more warm-up, against Costa Rica on June 10, before their Group stage begins in the US on June 17. The World Cup runs from June 11 to July 26 across the US, Canada and Mexico.
In other friendly action, Scotland thrashed Bolivia 4-0 in Harrison, New Jersey. Lawrence Shankland opened the scoring after six minutes, Scott McTominay doubled the lead on 23 minutes, and Che Adams bagged a brace with assists from Ben Gannon-Doal. Both games kicked off at 9pm UK time, preparing fans for the late-night matches ahead in the tournament.