All Whites downed by Harry Kane brillance
- 6 hours ago
- 2 min read
A solitary Harry Kane header was the difference as England beat the New Zealand 1-0 in Tampa, Florida.
The friendly was New Zealand’s final warm-up before the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
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The historic match was just the third time the All Whites had faced England, with more than 30 years passing since they last faced off in international football.
The world’s fourth ranked nation imposed themselves on the match right from kick off but found it tough getting past a well organised New Zealand defence.
The All Whites showed improvements from the loss to Haiti earlier in the week, hurrying England while in possession, with the Kiwi players looking to pounce on the counter via Chris Wood.
New Zealand’s tactics proved to threaten the England defence as they scrambled to smother Sarpreet Singh in the 10th minute as the All Whites number 10 shot wide of Jordan Pickford’s goal.
Soon after Pickford would be forced into action as Matt Garbett produced a stinging shot in the 27th minute from edge of the area.
At the other end, Max Crocombe intervened on multiple occasions to deny England, including a reactionary save to deny a Harry Kane header.
But the All Whites would be unable to hold on until halftime break as the English and Tampa heat began to bear down on them.
Harry Kane eventually found a way past Crocombe, heading on a Djed Spence cross to give England the lead seconds before the halftime whistle.
England made 11 changes at halftime, All Whites just one with Alex Rufer coming on for Joe Bell in midfield.
The Lions continued the second half the way the ended the first, dominating possession and camping up around the All Whites box nearly doubling through substitute defender Dan Burn whose header bounced off the post.
All Whites coach Darren Bazeley had mixed emotions after the game seeing improvement, but also ruing the goal against his side.
“We competed pretty well defensively. We looked more solid, more compact than our previous game. England are obviously a very good team and had some good possession, but didn't overly hurt us at times. We had some moments in possession where we got into some pretty good areas – in the first half on the counter – and it was just obviously disappointing, conceding the goal,"
Bazeley made the most of the pause in play to make three changes and bring on Ben Old, Jesse Randall and Tyler Bindon.
The substitutes did freshen the All Whites, with their best minutes coming in the final stretch of the match however they couldn’t formulate any guilt edged opportunities.
The match finished 1-0 to England with the All Whites now looking to their opening Group G match against IR Iran on 16 June in Los Angeles.
Fulltime
All Whites 0
England 1 (Harry Kane, 45'+3')
