Soccer
Thomas Tuchel claimed he has not decided his starting 11 for England’s World Cup opener against Croatia.
The Three Lions get their campaign underway in North America on June 17, before facing Ghana on June 23 and Panama on June 27.
Prior to the tournament, England face New Zealand and Costa Rica in warm-up games, with the first coming on Saturday against the All Whites.
This will be England’s first game played in America since a pair of friendlies against Ecuador and Honduras in June 2014 in the lead-up to the World Cup in Brazil. The Three Lions drew both fixtures at the Sun Life Stadium, 2-2 and 0-0, respectively.
Many, understandably, are already looking ahead to England’s clash with Croatia, but Tuchel sees no reason to select his starting line-up just yet.
“I am still processing it,” said Tuchel.
Bringing good energy to training pic.twitter.com/9pPkzg3Pbc
— England (@England) June 5, 2026
“I don’t want to narrow it down, and then we have maybe a slight injury worries or someone is carrying something who is not confident, and it just freaks me out!
“We will always take last decisions, but I have a clear idea, I think, of 14 or 15 starters who can and should start for us and carry this team.
“We will always have this pool of players to choose from, and to choose from also what we see from the energy, who is in shape, who is in form, who fits the opponent better.
“I had a detailed look already at Croatia over the last weeks, but the last week has been completely about us and our behaviours.
“I will dive into this subject when we go to Kansas and prepare from then.”
England’s only previous meetings with New Zealand came in the same week back in June 1991 – the Three Lions won both friendlies, 1-0 in Auckland and 2-0 in Wellington.
England have also won each of their last 37 games against nations ranked 85th or higher in the FIFA World Rankings (New Zealand are 85th), since a 1-0 loss to Northern Ireland in September 2005.
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