The England fans sat in the Florida sun, blinking back the sweltering heat and feeling the dream beginning to stir again. It is the dream England always dreams. The dream which, for the last 60 years, has always been dashed.
Thomas Tuchel made 11 changes at half time and there were moments where this victory over New Zealand felt like a training game. But the refrain of Three Lions began to boom around the Raymond James Stadium. Jules Rimet is still gleaming. England supporters danced in the stands.
If this game represented anything, it represented the beginning of hope. Because however much we try to quell it, the hope always takes hold. There are 11 days until England’s opening game of the World Cup against Croatia in Dallas but there is enough talent in this squad to let the hope flourish and to clutch at the tentative signs of encouragement on view here.
Harry Kane played, Harry Kane scored and Harry Kane was not injured. That was the best news because without Kane, there probably is no hope. Him staying healthy was more important than him scoring the 79th goal of his England career in his 113th appearance.
Harry Kane opens his account on US soil, scoring his 67th goal of the season
Thomas Tuchel made 11 changes at half time and there were moments where this victory over New Zealand felt like a training game
Other small victories? Well, England survived the pitch at the stadium the locals call the Ray-Jay. It was supposed to be full of potholes and pitfalls but England negotiated them without alarm.
England have never before played in a stadium where a pirate ship sits behind one of the goals. The cannon that booms out from it every time the Tampa Bay Buccaneers score a touchdown stayed silent, even when Kane scored. This was a day for quieter satisfactions.
Jordan Henderson played well, especially for a player who keeps being told he should be on the coaching staff, not on the pitch. Morgan Rogers started ahead of Jude Bellingham but when Bellingham came on in the second half, he was given the captain’s armband. Decipher that puzzle if you can.
When Bellingham came on in the second half, he was given the captain’s armband – decipher that puzzle if you can
Marcus Rashford was England’s best player in the first half. Bellingham looked a class above in the second half. He often does. Logic says he is simply too good not to start against Croatia on June 17th.
But then this was all against a side that had just lost 4-0 to Haiti in Miami. This was an exercise in coping with the heat. It was a start. Nothing more. England play Costa Rica in another friendly in Orlando on Wednesday and then, a couple of days later, head to their training base in Kansas City. This will be a World Cup that builds slowly.
It was hard to read too much into a team selection for a match against poor opponents on a bad pitch but it was also hard not to read too much into the selection of Morgan Rogers at number 10 behind Kane.
It was hard to read too much into Thomas Tuchel’s team selection for a match against poor opponents on a bad pitch
The battle between Rogers and Bellingham for the crucial creative starting berth in the team is the story that will run and run all the way to England’s opening game. Rogers’ selection for this match and the general preference that Tuchel has shown for him over Bellingham suggests that he has his nose ahead in the struggle with his friend. It will be a big call to leave out a Real Madrid starter from the England line-up.
Some were surprised that Kane started, given his importance to the side but then there is only so long he can be protected. If there is an excess of caution among the fans about wrapping him in cotton wool, it is because everyone knows he is the one player who cannot be replaced.
England started well enough but it was the 14th minute before they carved out their first clear chance. The inclusion of Jordan Henderson has been mocked by many. Some have suggested he is only in the squad to keep Bellingham happy. But he was the best player on the pitch in the opening stages.
It was his brilliant, driven pass down the inside right channel that played in Ollie Watkins but as Watkins bore down on goal, he mishit his shot and it flew wildly across the face of goal. Kane hit a sweeter shot from 35 yards a minute later but it was too close to Max Crocombe and he beat it away with his fists.
England did not have it all their own way. Midway through the half, Matt Garbett stepped outside his man and hit a curling, dipping shot that bounced just in front of Jordan Pickford. Pickford dealt with it well, and pushed it away to safety but it was a reminder that New Zealand did not intend to be sacrificial lambs.
Henderson prompted another attack that ended with Kobbie Mainoo bending a shot just over the bar. Ten minutes before half-time, a Kane back-post header brought a fine finger-tip save out of Crocombe.
The breakthrough came on the stroke of the interval. Djed Spence curled a cross in from the left and Kane rose to steer a deft glancing header across goal and into the far corner. It was a beautiful goal from a striker who cannot stop scoring. Crocombe had no chance this time.
Djed Spence curled a cross in from the left and Kane rose to steer a deft glancing header across goal and into the far corner
Tuchel made 11 changes at half-time. Bellingham, Ivan Toney, and Anthony Gordon were among those who came on. Rio Ngumoha was brought on for his England debut. Dan Burn, another introduction, hit the post four minutes into his appearance after Crocombe came for a high ball and got nowhere near it.
Bellingham’s first contribution was a Rolls Royce pass with the outside of his right foot to Gordon. Soon after, he played a neat ball into Toney, who was tripped in the area. The referee pointed to the spot but Toney had strayed offside.
In a break in the game, the television cameras picked out a woman in the crowd holding up a sign that said ‘Phil Foden should be here’. More will feel that Cole Palmer should be here. But the die is cast now. This is still an England squad rich in talent.
They could not add to Kane’s goal in the second half but that did not matter. It was a game to be negotiated. It was a match in which to suffer in the heat and know that it was money in the bank for far, far tougher tests that lie ahead when the World Cup starts and the singing of Three Lions grows in volume.
