NZ boss tells England they ‘need to be better’ as Tuchel reacts to World Cup warm-up win

Harry Kane’s clinical first-half header proved enough to give England a 1-0 World Cup warm-up victory over New Zealand in Tampa on Saturday (June 6), as Thomas Tuchel used the occasion to hand minutes to 22 players ahead of next week’s tournament kickoff.

Kane, England‘s captain and talisman, glanced Djed Spence’s cross into the bottom corner just before halftime to settle a match played in sweltering 32 degrees Celsius (89.6°F) heat, with the result always secondary to the process of fine-tuning the squad for the conditions ahead.

Tuchel rotated his entire team at halftime, fielding two completely different XIs across the 90 minutes.

England showed flashes of cohesion without ever fully settling into a rhythm, hampered in part by a difficult playing surface.

“It was very difficult to play on,” Tuchel said. “We have no injuries and there were no concerns but it was very uneven, very uneven. It was difficult to move the ball and move the ball quickly. When you have the ball for the majority of the match, it doesn’t help you.

“We have four training sessions together and we mixed the team up completely, so we never played before in these combinations and formation. Then you have the conditions, the pitch, it can look like this.”

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The manager was more critical of his side’s first-half shape. “We were out of positions and it was a bit too much freestyle,” he said, though he was encouraged after the break. “More bite in the second half. We played more from our positions and that’s why we played with more speed.”

Tuchel was quick to add context, noting many of his players had not featured together since November. “A lot of our players played last time together in November — half a year ago — and we have four training sessions together,” he said.

New Zealand coach Darren Bazeley felt his side had competed well but lamented the timing of the goal. “We were pretty in the game and concede just before half-time hurt,” he said. “We just have to be better in the moments when we get forward possession to have moments of quality where we can score goals.”

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On England’s World Cup chances, Bazeley said: “I think most countries, including England today, when they’re playing their first game, they want to get everybody good minutes, acclimatised, get the legs moving heading into the World Cup.

“England were good today, but they need to be better to go and win the World Cup than they were today, even though they won the game.”

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