Thomas Tuchel and England had their final World Cup match late on Thursday.
It was actually later than advertised, kicking off 10pm (UK time) due to a storm bringing torrential rain ahead of the advertised kick-off which should have been an hour earlier.
England getting a glimpse into what likely lies ahead in terms of delayed and interrupted matches at these World Cup finals, especially judged on the disruption we saw last summer during the World Club Cup.
The opposition were poor but I was impressed by Thomas Tuchel and England in Orlando.
The 1-0 win over New Zealand was a ‘match’ that they should never have charged people to see a glorified training session. However, this was far better against Costa Rica and clear signs of a Tuchel plan to step things up stage by stage.
England dominated throughout and if not for poor finishing it would have been at least double the 3-0 scoreline. The likes of Madueke and Rogers guilty of shocking misses.
Anthony Gordon (of Barcelona!) was named man of the match and I thought he was excellent. The (former Newcastle United!) winger skinning his man time after time to create danger and chances from the left, setting up Declan Rice to score the opener on nine minutes and then no surprise when his marker was yellow carded when Gordon skinned him yet again.
Costa Rica offered zero threat, apart from when Jordan Pickford made a lazy pass straight to an opposition player, but the Costa Rica player elected to pass himself to a teammate and the chance was lost with Pickford stranded away from goal.
Anthony Gordon looked to have won a penalty before the break for a foul but that was overturned by VAR, though a handball on 68 minutes gave Gordon the chance himself from the penalty spot with Harry Kane having departed, one of the first wave of subs just after the hour mark. Thomas Tuchel sent the instruction from the bench that Gordon and not Bellingham should take the penalty and Anthony Gordon sent it almost Nick Woltemade-style into the top corner,, unstoppable.
The second wave of subs with 20 minutes to go saw the remaining starters leave the pitch and Dan Burn amongst those who came on. The Newcastle United defender put in a decent shift and up front chance after chance went begging as Costa Rica tired, Ollie Watkins did make it 3-0 with a close range header but England need to be more ruthless when the real thing kicks off.
England kick off next Wednesday (17 June) against Croatia in their opening group match.
I thought Thomas Tuchel was a good manager previously but since taking over England, I have been really impressed with how he has gone about it, especially off the pitch in interviews.
Tuchel has made it clear that he makes the decisions and whilst the pathetic media constantly tell him he shouldn’t be ignoring their favourites, he keeps talking about how important it is to have unselfish individuals who buy into the team mentality, no matter who is selected. The disgraceful behaviour of Harry Maguire best sums this up, when breaking confidentiality and making it all about him, when before the England squad was announced he came out crying on social media and his mother and brother doing the same.
Dan Burn embodies the team spirit ethos and being a leader and example to others regardless of whether or not you get selected, Harry Maguire the exact opposite and that is why he going to be sitting at home with his family, shouting at the TV and slagging off Thomas Tuchel.
The 2026 World Cup finals begin on Thursday 11 June and run through until the final on Sunday 19 July.
All of the World Cup group matches for the Newcastle United players are listed below.
The warm up friendlies and 2026 World Cup group games schedule for Newcastle United players:
Saturday 13 June
Morocco v Brazil (Bruno Guimaraes) World Cup group match 11pm BBC
Sunday 14 June
Curacao v Germany (Malick Thiaw, Nick Woltemade) World Cup group match 6pm ITV
Monday 15 June
Tunisia v Sweden (Anthony Elanga) World Cup group match 3am ITV
Wednesday 17 June
Portugal v DR Congo (Yoane Wissa) World Cup group match 6pm BBC
Croatia v England (Dan Burn, Tino Livramento) World Cup group match 9pm ITV
Saturday 20 June
Haiti v Brazil (Bruno Guimaraes) World Cup group match 1.30am ITV
Ivory Coast v Germany (Malick Thiaw, Nick Woltemade) World Cup group match 9pm ITV
Netherlands v Sweden (Anthony Elanga) World Cup group match 6pm BBC
Tuesday 23 June
Ghana v England (Dan Burn, Tino Livramento) World Cup group match 9pm BBC
Wednesday 24 June
Scotland v Brazil (Bruno Guimaraes) World Cup group match 11pm BBC
Colombia v DR Congo (Yoane Wissa) World Cup group match 3am ITV
Thursday 25 June
Ecuador v Germany (Malick Thiaw, Nick Woltemade) World Cup group match 9pm BBC
Friday 26 June
Japan v Sweden (Anthony Elanga) World Cup group match 12am BBC
Saturday 27 June
Panama v England (Dan Burn, Tino Livramento) World Cup group match 10pm ITV
Sunday 28 June
Uzbekistan v DR Congo (Yoane Wissa) World Cup group match 12.30am BBC