📂 Categoría: Football,World Cup | 📅 Fecha: 1780718359
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England boss Thomas Tuchel confirmed he is open to ‘change some decisions’ after damning images of the pitch for their pre-World Cup friendly emerged.
The Three Lions will meet New Zealand in Tampa, Florida on Saturday night, live on talkSPORT, five days before the tournament begins.
For England, it’s their first stateside test as they look to acclimatise to the heat, with Costa Rica their second opponents on June 10.
New Zealand, who are the lowest-ranked side this summer, lost 4-0 to Haiti earlier in the week.
This weekend’s venue is the Raymond James Stadium, the home of NFL side Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
However, in an image supplied to talkSPORT, the playing surface does not appear to be in the best condition.
The pitch looks patchy and not as smooth as those seen in top-level leagues, raising fears over an increased risk of injuries.
NFL stadiums mostly use turf but have changed to natural grass in preparation for the World Cup.
These temporary installations are known as ‘plug and play’ pitches.
Tuchel ‘concerned’, but pitch should be ‘okay’
Speaking to talkSPORT’s Faye Carruthers on Friday, England head coach Tuchel was asked if he had concerns over the pitch.
“Hopefully not, not yet. But you all make me concerned because you ask me questions about the pitch,” Tuchel said.
“Now I’m concerned. I wasn’t before the press conference! People tell me and our greenkeeper went there and they told me it will be okay and it should be okay.
“Let’s hope it’s okay. If we find out tomorrow that it’s not okay, then we will adapt and maybe change some decisions.
“But at the moment, we plan to play two full teams for 45 minutes.”
All Whites coach Darren Bazeley echoed a similar sentiment, believing all will be well ‘once it gets a bit of water on it’.
“I’ll be honest, when you see it, you think, ‘That’s going to come up’, but it trained well,” Bazeley said during his press conference.
“It was fine, the ball rolled well, and I think it will be fine once it gets a bit of water on it. It was fine.”
New Zealand striker Chris Wood also played down any worries that he may have had with the pitch for Saturday.
“It seemed alright training on it,” Wood said.
“We know it’s freshly laid, it will be a different game pace, game speed. I’m sure it will hold up though.”
Who will start for England?
Tuchel is set to play two different teams in each half against New Zealand to help give his players an equal amount of minutes.
Although he has his 26-man squad for the World Cup, five other players made the journey to Florida for their training camp in Florida.
Josh King, Rio Ngumoha, Ethan Nwaneri, Alex Scott and Jason Steele could feature in the upcoming friendlies.
Scott, a midfielder for Bournemouth, is expected to make his senior international debut for England against New Zealand.
The 22-year-old received his first call-up in November, but did not make an appearance.
When asked by talkSPORT about Scott’s chances for minutes against New Zealand, Tuchel replied: “The thinking at the moment is every one of our 19 players, they need the 45 minutes.
“We need to move the players around a little bit because we have three no. 9s, we have nine defenders for eight positions tomorrow.
“So twice a back four, so one of them needs to play out of position if we want to play them.
“Then it has some consequences, where if we would push, for example, Reece James into a six, then we have suddenly three sixes. That is not finally decided, you will have to wait for tomorrow.
“One of them will get a cap, of the youngsters, and of course Alex would also deserve it. But it’s not decided yet.”
World Cup WhatsApp
Don’t miss an update from talkSPORT in our dedicated World Cup WhatsApp channel.
Search for ‘talkSPORT World Cup’ in your ‘Updates’ tab on WhatsApp and we’ll drop the proper, unfiltered football chat straight to your lock screen—no fluff, just pure talkSPORT energy.
It’s where you’ll find out all the new rules to watch out for, England and Scotland reaction and big match player ratings.
Plus there will be loads of debates on the biggest talking points as Haaland, Mbappe, Kane and the biggest names in football descend on America, Canada and Mexico.
England boss Thomas Tuchel confirmed he is open to ‘change some decisions’ after damning images of the pitch for their pre-World Cup friendly emerged.
The Three Lions will meet New Zealand in Tampa, Florida on Saturday night, live on talkSPORT, five days before the tournament begins.
For England, it’s their first stateside test as they look to acclimatise to the heat, with Costa Rica their second opponents on June 10.
New Zealand, who are the lowest-ranked side this summer, lost 4-0 to Haiti earlier in the week.
This weekend’s venue is the Raymond James Stadium, the home of NFL side Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
However, in an image supplied to talkSPORT, the playing surface does not appear to be in the best condition.
The pitch looks patchy and not as smooth as those seen in top-level leagues, raising fears over an increased risk of injuries.
NFL stadiums mostly use turf but have changed to natural grass in preparation for the World Cup.
These temporary installations are known as ‘plug and play’ pitches.
Tuchel ‘concerned’, but pitch should be ‘okay’
Speaking to talkSPORT’s Faye Carruthers on Friday, England head coach Tuchel was asked if he had concerns over the pitch.
“Hopefully not, not yet. But you all make me concerned because you ask me questions about the pitch,” Tuchel said.
“Now I’m concerned. I wasn’t before the press conference! People tell me and our greenkeeper went there and they told me it will be okay and it should be okay.
“Let’s hope it’s okay. If we find out tomorrow that it’s not okay, then we will adapt and maybe change some decisions.
“But at the moment, we plan to play two full teams for 45 minutes.”
All Whites coach Darren Bazeley echoed a similar sentiment, believing all will be well ‘once it gets a bit of water on it’.
“I’ll be honest, when you see it, you think, ‘That’s going to come up’, but it trained well,” Bazeley said during his press conference.
“It was fine, the ball rolled well, and I think it will be fine once it gets a bit of water on it. It was fine.”
New Zealand striker Chris Wood also played down any worries that he may have had with the pitch for Saturday.
“It seemed alright training on it,” Wood said.
“We know it’s freshly laid, it will be a different game pace, game speed. I’m sure it will hold up though.”
Who will start for England?
Tuchel is set to play two different teams in each half against New Zealand to help give his players an equal amount of minutes.
Although he has his 26-man squad for the World Cup, five other players made the journey to Florida for their training camp in Florida.
Josh King, Rio Ngumoha, Ethan Nwaneri, Alex Scott and Jason Steele could feature in the upcoming friendlies.
Scott, a midfielder for Bournemouth, is expected to make his senior international debut for England against New Zealand.
The 22-year-old received his first call-up in November, but did not make an appearance.
When asked by talkSPORT about Scott’s chances for minutes against New Zealand, Tuchel replied: “The thinking at the moment is every one of our 19 players, they need the 45 minutes.
“We need to move the players around a little bit because we have three no. 9s, we have nine defenders for eight positions tomorrow.
“So twice a back four, so one of them needs to play out of position if we want to play them.
“Then it has some consequences, where if we would push, for example, Reece James into a six, then we have suddenly three sixes. That is not finally decided, you will have to wait for tomorrow.
“One of them will get a cap, of the youngsters, and of course Alex would also deserve it. But it’s not decided yet.”
World Cup WhatsApp
Don’t miss an update from talkSPORT in our dedicated World Cup WhatsApp channel.
Search for ‘talkSPORT World Cup’ in your ‘Updates’ tab on WhatsApp and we’ll drop the proper, unfiltered football chat straight to your lock screen—no fluff, just pure talkSPORT energy.
It’s where you’ll find out all the new rules to watch out for, England and Scotland reaction and big match player ratings.
Plus there will be loads of debates on the biggest talking points as Haaland, Mbappe, Kane and the biggest names in football descend on America, Canada and Mexico.
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| 📰 Publicación: | talksport.com |
| ✍️ Autor: | Robert Calcutt |
| 📅 Fecha Original: | 2026-06-05 20:42:00 |
| 🔗 Enlace: | Ver artículo original |
Nota de transparencia: Este artículo ha sido traducido y adaptado del inglés al español para facilitar su comprensión. El contenido se mantiene fiel a la fuente original, disponible en el enlace proporcionado arriba.
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