England Toppled New Zealand in Tampa: 1-0

England, who beat New Zealand 1-0 in their meeting in Tampa in the preparation match before the 2026 World Cup, opened their Florida leg with a victory. The Three Lions' only goal came in the additional moments of the first half from Harry Kane's header. England under Thomas Tuchel was also clearly superior in match statistics: with an xG value of 1.49, they left New Zealand's 0.12 far behind.

England, which dominated the ball more throughout the match, drew a picture in which they could not set up the expected pressure; New Zealand caused difficulty for the Three Lions in the home position with attacking attempts from time to time. In the match refereed by Natalie Simon, in the early stages, the shot by Henderson, who returned from the edge of the goal on the pass given by Marcus Rashford to Jordan Henderson, came off the leg of his teammate Morgan Rogers. In the additional minutes of the first half, Harry Kane's header brought the only goal of the match and England went into the break 1-0 ahead.

England's path at the World Cup will go through Group L: they will face Croatia (June 17), Ghana and Panama. Tuchel's team's last preparation match will be on Wednesday, June 10 in Orlando against Costa Rica. New Zealand, on the other hand, will face Iran in the Group G opening match on Tuesday.

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