England and New Zealand, ranked 85th in FIFA, will also play a friendly match against Japan in the warm-up match

*This content was translated by AI.

England, which will play a warm-up match against the Japanese national soccer team in the 2026 FIFA North American World Cup next month, is expected to play a warm-up match with New Zealand just before the World Cup.

According to the British Guardian and The Sun on the 6th (Korea Standard Time), the English Football Association is pushing for a warm-up match against New Zealand in Tampa, USA, on June 6. In the FIFA rankings, England is fourth and New Zealand is 85th, with a wide gap.

England, which will face Croatia, Ghana and Panama in Group L of the World Cup finals, plans to maximize their condition just before the World Cup against New Zealand, which is considered one of the weakest teams in the tournament. New Zealand, along with Belgium, Egypt and Iran, are in Group G of the World Cup finals.

England is expected to play its last warm-up match before the World Cup on June 10, as well as New Zealand. It is a week before the Croatia match in the first group stage of the World Cup.

However, during this period, they cannot play a warm-up match against the team that advanced to the World Cup finals. This is because FIFA regulations do not allow friendly matches between teams that advance to the World Cup finals five days before the opening of the World Cup. As a result, Costa Rica, which failed to advance to the World Cup finals, is mentioned as a strong candidate for England's last warm-up match before the World Cup.

England, led by Thomas Tuchel, who led Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich, is considered one of the leading contenders for the tournament. There are prominent players such as Harry Kane (Bayern Munich) and Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid). He is trying to win the title for the first time in 60 years since his country's 1966 competition.

Next month, two consecutive warm-up matches are scheduled against Uruguay and Japan. In particular, Japan took the opportunity to face the favorite England at Wembley Stadium, a 'soccer site'. On the other hand, during the same period, South Korea, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, will play an away warm-up match against Austria, ranked 24th in the FIFA rankings. South Korea's first warm-up match in March, which will take place from March 26-27, is still undecided.

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*This content was translated by AI.