As promised Thomas Tuchel used 22 players in England’s first warm-up here in Florida before the World Cup. But they remain dependent on the one: Harry Kane. They are, whatever the personnel and permutations, the Harry Kane team.

Against New Zealand the England captain made the late first-half breakthrough with the cleverest of headers to claim what was his 79th goal for his country – in 113 games – to burst into the top 10 on the all-time list of international goalscorers.

HAD TO BE HIM 🔥

"And finally England's American adventure starts, and of course it's starts with a Harry Kane goal"

England enter the break ahead against the All Whites 1️⃣-0️⃣ pic.twitter.com/b7jPSmPdXa

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) June 6, 2026

In doing so Kane drew level with Brazil’s Neymar, who achieved the total in 128 appearances (and Zambia’s Godfrey Chitalu) and five behind the legendary Ferenc Puskas. Despite that landmark this was the most lacking of lustre performances.

Never mind concerns over the pitch – which became trickier as it dried out in the heat after a pre-match soaking. What about concerns over the state of the England team? At the home of the Glazer family’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL team they were far from buccaneering.

Is that expecting too much? Probably and certainly too much can be read into such fixtures, glorified training matches rather than full friendlies and certainly not intense World Cup ties. But, equally, how you go into these tournaments, and the momentum you show, matter.

As recently as Euro 2024, England arrived on the back of a poor 1-0 defeat to Iceland at Wembley and while they made the final it set the tone in what was a grim campaign.

Famously before the World Cup in 2010, they laboured against the semi-professional South African side Platinum All-Stars. And we saw how that unfolded. Similarly in 2014, the last time they were in Florida, it was far from good in bore draws against Ecuador and Honduras. And England fared even worse in that tournament.

But at least they were more credible opposition than New Zealand who were beaten 4-0 by Haiti, the third lowest-ranked nation at the World Cup, and one of Scotland’s group opponents, in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday. While England dominated, their opponents were not overrun.

One-nil against New Zealand, the lowest-ranked nation, is, frankly, quite an embarrassing result even with all the changes. England did not inspire. England did not excite.

Afterwards the New Zealand head coach – the English former Watford defender Darren Bazeley summed it up: “England didn’t overly hurt us. England were good today but they need to be better if they are to win the World Cup.”

England good? That bit was courteously charitable. England have a lot of days before they kick-off against Croatia on June 17 to get it right. But that has to start when they face Costa Rica in Orlando on Wednesday with the squad at full-strength and the Arsenal players integrated. After that there is a behind-closed-doors friendly against Miami United the next day.

Here Rio Ngumoha, 17, making up the numbers and not in the squad, was handed his debut, in one of those 11 half-time changes, which was also notable for Jude Bellingham – back in his preferred No 10 role – taking the captain’s armband after Kane was substituted.

It felt like a bit of a statement although Bellingham, still just 22, was by far the most experienced player in that line-up.

Managing Kane’s minutes will be key to England’s success. They are frankly, doomed without him. In these conditions the 32-year-old cannot play all the time, Tuchel has acknowledged that, but the dependency is quite remarkable even if he is coming off an extraordinary season with Bayern Munich. Kane has now scored 67 goals in this campaign for club and country.

It was a game of two halves (well, four quarters actually with the drinks break) and two different XIs, as Tuchel promised.

But it was not until the final act of the first 45 – 48 with added time – minutes that England scored. With Kane, Marcus Rashford, Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers on the pitch they struggled.

Of course they dominated with 67.5 per cent possession in that period and with 14 efforts on goal (to two), but it took Kane to deftly flick in an inswinging cross by Djed Spence, the left-back, to break the deadlock.

Dare it be said, but it cried out for a creative player to unpick an organised defence. A lot of those have been left at home. Who caught the eye in that first-half team? It was probably Rashford, working hard down both flanks, and 35-year-old Jordan Henderson.

Except Tuchel was not happy with the performance in that period. “First-half we were out of positions and played a bit more free-style. We lacked width, players were coming inside and slowing ourselves down,” he complained. “A lot of crosses and long-range shots which is not our style of play. A lot of long balls which was not part of training in the past four days.”

John Stones started alongside Marc Guehi – which may well prove to be Tuchel’s preferred pairing in central defence – so that was a bonus, as he was making just his sixth appearance of 2026. But there was not much else in the 33C degree heat beyond no injuries.

And the pitch? Tuchel was not happy about that either. “It was very difficult to play on. It was not dangerous and we have no injuries but it was very uneven and difficult to move the ball quickly,” he said, adding: “It is what it is. It can happen. I know it from pre-season tours and overseas when you play in stadiums that are not football stadiums.”

Even so it begs the question why England – who also flew in and out of Tampa on the day, returning to their base in West Palm Beach – agreed to it.

When the new team emerged after the changes, Dan Burn, playing at centre-half, clipped the outside of the post with another header and New Zealand – who made just the one change at the interval but many after – dropped even deeper.

England’s share of possession climbed higher, to more than 71 per cent, but they struggled to create openings. Even so Tuchel declared himself more satisfied with the second team.

“I liked the second-half more than the first-half. There was more bite and we created a bit more and played with more speed,” he said with Bellingham – in the No 10 – central to that.

Tuchel also talked up Ivan Toney – or rather what he has been like in training – but he did not stake a claim. We know it is going to take a lot to dislodge Kane. But England need others to step up and share the responsibility.