England face Costa Rica in Orlando on Wednesday in their final match before the 2026 World Cup, a last chance for Thomas Tuchel to run out what looks close to his strongest side under pressure that comes not just from the opponent but from the weather. Kick-off is set for 4pm local time, 9pm in the UK, with temperatures expected to reach 31 degrees and thunderstorms possible.
That is why this game is being watched now. Tuchel has already shown he is willing to change things from one half to the next, naming a different XI for each period in Saturday’s 1-0 win over New Zealand, where Harry Kane’s header decided a match in the heat and Marcus Rashford, Elliot Anderson and Jude Bellingham all strengthened their case for selection. Against Costa Rica, the expectation is that England will lean on the players most likely to start at the World Cup, including Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka, with John Stones potentially alongside Marc Guehi in central defence and Nico O’Reilly and Reece James at full-back. Morgan Rogers appears to be ahead in the race for the number 10 role.
Costa Rica arrive on the back of two heavy defeats, losing 3-1 to Colombia last Tuesday and 5-0 to Iran at the end of March, but the bigger issue for England is how much they can ask of key players in Orlando’s heat without taking an avoidable risk. That is the friction in a match that should help settle Tuchel’s thinking: England need a proper test, but they also need to get through it intact.
The wider picture is that Wednesday is the last stop before the tournament itself, with England’s World Cup group set to bring Croatia in Dallas, Ghana in Boston and Panama in New Jersey. Dallas is listed with a closing roof, but Orlando is open to the kind of storms that can change a night quickly, and England have already had one reminder of how hard these games can become when they laboured past New Zealand 1-0 in similar conditions. If the weather holds, Tuchel should leave Florida with a clearer idea of his best XI. If it does not, the more immediate question is whether the final warm-up is played on England’s terms at all.
