PREVIEW: England face Costa Rica in final World Cup warm-up | OneFootball

England take on Costa Rica in Orlando in their final warm-up game before the World Cup hoping to improve on their narrow victory against New Zealand.

The Three Lions beat Darren Bazeley’s side 1-0 in their first pre-tournament friendly in Tampa, Florida, thanks to Harry Kane’s 67th goal of the season, yet fans likely had expected more against the competition’s lowest-ranked side.

That match was used effectively as a training game, with two different starting line uos used in each half to allow Tuchel’s men to focus on acclimatising to the hot weather and build their match fitness.

And the heat is once again expected to be a big factor, with temperatures of 33 degrees celcius and humidity of 90% expected in Orlando’s Inter&Co stadium.

But Tuchel is expected to ditch further experimentation in favour of giving his preferred set up time to get match sharp, ahead of England’s opening group stage game against Croatia on the 17th of June.

This means that Marcus Rashford and Anthony Gordon will likely be given the chance to stake their claims for the left wing spot, following strong performances against last Saturday’s Oceanic opponents.

Likewise, Morgan Rogers and Jude Bellingham will be keen to nail their final auditions for the number 10 role, with Tuchel having admitted that the latter has a battle on his hands to keep his place as a starter.

Yet both players put in underwhelming performances against New Zealand and will need to show significant improvement before the real action in Group L kicks off next week.

Reece James is also likely to start despite Djed Spence’s strong performance last time out, with Tuchel known to be a big fan of the Chelsea right back when he able to remain injury free.

John Stones also looks set to play again following an injury-ridden season with Man City, with the German saying “everyone can start, everyone is fit and ready and John is one of them.”

Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka could also feature after joining their teammates on Saturday following Arsenal’s Champions League final defeat to PSG.

But Tuchel admitted that “we have to protect Bukayo” after he missed part of the Premier League campaign’s climax with a muscle injury, and will take a cautious approach to the winger’s fitness.

That could open the door for 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha to earn his second senior cap, who travelled to Florida with the 26 man squad to gain experience and act as cover for any last-minute injuries along with Alex Scott.

Ngumoha came off the bench and impressed against New Zealand, completing four out of five attempts at dribbling and looking like a constant danger throughout the second half.

Costa Rica will be keen to prove they can go toe-to-toe with the biggest sides after missing out on the World Cup for the first time since South Africa hosted the tournament back in 2010.

They failed to make this year’s competition despite heavyweights USA, Canada, and Mexico being absent from qualifying through co-hosting the tournament, and the event’s historic expansion to 48 teams.

Fernando Batista’s men finished third in their final qualifying round behind group winners Haiti and second-placed Honduras, failing even to secure a playoff spot.

Their surprise exit in qualifying caps quite the mixed decade of football for Los Ticos, who made the last 16 in 2014 after topping a group with Italy, Uruguay and tomorrow’s opponents England.

Manfred Ugalde and Josimar Alcocer are expected to start for the three-time Gold Cup winners, but New York City striker Alonso Martinez will miss out as he recovers from December’s surgery addressing his anterior cruciate ligament injury.

England’s final friendly match before the World Cup gets underway at 21:00 (GMT) with live coverage available on ITV1 from one hour prior to kick off.