Overview
Friendly matches under Thomas Tuchel bring more worries than peace of mind to England fans. "The Three Lions" have only won one of their last 4 friendly matches and are under no small pressure before the confrontation with New Zealand.
The only victory in this period was an impressive performance against Wales with a score of 3-0 in October last year. However, England then unexpectedly lost to Senegal right at home, before continuing to disappoint in the series of matches preparing for the World Cup in March.
The 1-1 draw against Uruguay and the 0-1 defeat to Japan have raised many doubts. In particular, the defeat to Japan marked the first time in the history of men's football at the national team level, England lost to a team from Asia.
However, many tactical experiments of Tuchel in the past period are considered necessary preparations for the 2026 World Cup. Options that have not been effective, such as using Phil Foden in the role of center forward, are likely to no longer be applied when the tournament officially kicks off.
The defeat against Japan also closed England's 21-match consecutive scoring streak in all competitions. However, the history of confrontations with New Zealand brings much optimism to them.
The two teams have only met twice in the history of national team-level men's football, both in 1991. At that time, England won with scores of 1-0 and 2-0.
Meanwhile, New Zealand is preparing for its third World Cup appearance after 1982 and 2010. The representative of Oceania won a ticket to the 2026 World Cup after dominating the OFC regional qualifiers.
Coach Darren Bazeley's team scored 19 goals in the first 3 matches, defeating Fiji 7-0 in the semi-finals before overcoming New Caledonia 3-0 in the final to win a ticket to North America.
However, when facing stronger opponents, New Zealand often encounters many difficulties. They have lost 8 of their last 10 matches in all competitions, including a 0-4 defeat to Haiti in early June.
Although they once caused a surprise when defeating Chile 4-1 in March, New Zealand's overall form is still not convincing enough before the World Cup, where they will have to compete with Belgium, Iran and Egypt in Group G.
Personnel situation
The England team did not record any worrying injuries before the confrontation with New Zealand. However, Tuchel still cannot use the strongest squad when Arsenal players including Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke need more time to recover after the Champions League final.
On the New Zealand side, Darren Bazeley's force is affected by injury problems. Two midfielders Ryan Thomas and Joe Bell are both absent from the defeat to Haiti due to leg injuries. Among these, only Joe Bell still hopes to recover in time to participate in the match against England.
Expected lineup:
Pickford, James, Konsa, Guehi, O'Reilly, Anderson, Mainoo, Rogers, Bellingham, Rashford, Kane.
Crocombe, Payne, Surman, Bindon, Cacace, Stamenic, Rufer, Just, McCowatt, Randall, Wood.
The match between England and New Zealand takes place at 3:00 AM on June 7 (Vietnam time).
