England completed their pre-tournament preparations with a comfortable 3-0 victory against Costa Rica in their final World Cup warm-up match on Wednesday night.
A heavy thunderstorm delayed kick-off by one hour at the Inter&Co Stadium, but Thomas Tuchel’s side shook off the disruption to control proceedings against the Central Americans, who failed to qualify for the 2026 tournament.
Declan Rice opened the scoring in the ninth minute, finishing smartly after Anthony Gordon’s purposeful run and cut-back down the left. Gordon, who has recently joined Barcelona, doubled the lead from the penalty spot in the 68th minute before substitute Ollie Watkins headed home a third in the 87th minute.
The performance showed more intensity and fluency than England’s narrow 1-0 win over New Zealand earlier in the camp. Tuchel handed starts to several players pushing for places, including Rice — making his first appearance of the training camp after Arsenal’s Champions League commitments — as well as Gordon, Jude Bellingham and Noni Madueke.
Tuchel expressed satisfaction after the match, praising the attitude, intensity and contributions from players coming off the bench. “We did very well and we deserved to win,” he said. “We should have had more goals — we created a lot.”
The win leaves England unbeaten in their warm-up fixtures as they head into the World Cup.
England will kick off their campaign against Croatia on June 17, with Tuchel’s men desperate to break their long historical drought and finally put a second star on the national shirt.
They last won the coveted FIFA World Cup trophy sixty years ago on home soil in 1966. Their best ever finishes in the competition without winning were their fourth-place finishes in both 1990 and 2018. The Three Lions reached the quarter-finals in 2022.
