Gordon Shines, Rice Returns: England Hit Three Past Costa Rica in Final World Cup Warm-Up

There was a moment, before a ball had even been kicked in Orlando, when the weather appeared to be making a philosophical point. A thunder and lightning storm drenched the Orlando City Stadium pitch and pushed back kick-off by a full hour, as if nature itself wanted England's players to sit with the weight of what lies ahead. When the game finally began, Anthony Gordon had clearly used the time productively. The new Barcelona winger was the most compelling figure on the pitch, contributing both a goal and an assist as England beat Costa Rica 3-0 in their last official warm-up before the 2026 World Cup.

Tactically, the evening belonged to Gordon's left-wing corridor. He showed the speed and directness that has defined his club form, going around the Costa Rica defence before cutting the ball back for Declan Rice, whose shot took a deflection and found the net after nine minutes. It was the kind of contribution that turns a watching manager from hopeful to convinced. Gordon followed it up by thumping home a second-half penalty, and the cumulative picture he painted across 60-odd minutes was of a player who has arrived at a tournament in the best form of his career.

Thomas Tuchel will have left Orlando with rather more than the scoreline. After a comfortable but relatively flat performance in the previous friendly win over New Zealand on Saturday, this felt sharper, more purposeful. The manager himself told ITV he felt the attitude, intensity and energy were "on a very high level" and that his side created a lot and deserved to win by more. Those words carry weight when they reflect what the eye test also shows.

Gordon Makes the Left-Wing Argument Unanswerable

Before kick-off, the question of who starts on the left wing against Croatia carried genuine intrigue. By full time, it was difficult to imagine any other answer. Gordon's performance had the hallmarks of someone who understands exactly what is expected of him within Tuchel's structure: run in behind, stretch the opposition defence, and deliver when the ball arrives. His assist for Rice was textbook pressing-era forward play, not a deliberate cross so much as an invitation that demanded to be accepted. The key detail was how early Gordon had already committed the full-back, meaning Rice arrived at the ball with space in front of him rather than into a crowded box.

The penalty he converted demonstrated composure under a different kind of pressure. A spot-kick in a warm-up friendly in front of 25,500 fans in Florida is not the Wembley cauldron, but the manner in which a player approaches those moments tells you something about their mindset entering a tournament. Gordon struck it with authority. The competition for that starting berth, which had been open throughout the camp, now looks considerably less competitive. Marcus Rashford, who began on the bench against New Zealand, will need to find a different route into Tuchel's plans.

What is particularly striking about Gordon's trajectory is that his transition to Barcelona has, if anything, accelerated the qualities England had already come to rely on. He is quicker in his thinking, more direct in his running, and more assured in front of goal than the version of the player who featured in the last major international cycle. Tuchel, who has made a point of demanding intensity from his wide players, has the forward he needs on that flank.

Rice, Bellingham and the Question of Who Controls the Room

Declan Rice arrived in Orlando late, having joined up with the squad after Arsenal's Champions League final, and this was his first minutes of the camp. You would not have known it. He played with the authority of someone who has been building towards this for months, which in a sense he has. Lifting the Premier League with Arsenal is the kind of confidence-building experience that travels with a player, and Rice carried that ease into the performance from the opening minutes. His goal, deflected though it was, arrived at the end of a move he helped to construct, and his positioning and range of passing throughout the hour he played were precisely what England need from their midfield anchor. Crucially, he pressed with the same intensity in the 55th minute as the fifth, which is the real indicator of match sharpness rather than technical execution alone.

The more nuanced subplot unfolding in the middle third involves Jude Bellingham. Playing at the number ten position rather than Morgan Rogers, Bellingham produced the kind of moments that remind you why he remains England's most gifted midfielder in the final third. His pass that created Noni Madueke's glaring first-half chance was exactly the sort of vision that defenders cannot legislate for. He also dribbled past four Costa Rica defenders in the build-up to Eberechi Eze winning Gordon's penalty. And when Harry Kane departed along with several other starters after approximately an hour, Bellingham took the captain's armband, a gesture that carried meaning beyond logistics.

Rogers, the alternative option at ten, came on as a substitute and squandered a significant chance of his own, though it was his parried shot by replacement goalkeeper Abraham Madriz that fell kindly for Ollie Watkins to finish. The starting position at ten now looks like Bellingham's to keep, unless something shifts in the behind-closed-doors match against Miami FC on Thursday. For Rogers, the challenge is to find a way into the squad's rhythm from the bench rather than to displace the player currently demonstrating why he is England's most important creative force.

A Clean Sheet Built on Untested Foundations

The caveat that colours the entire evening is the standard of the opposition. Costa Rica did not qualify for the 2026 World Cup and were at times scrappy, limited, and unable to trouble the England defence in any meaningful way. The centre-back partnership of John Stones and Ezri Konsa, selected ahead of a Marc Guehi who spent the evening on the bench, was largely untested. That is useful information in one sense, confirming they can maintain their shape and composure, but it tells Tuchel relatively little about how they will cope against Croatia's more considered attacking patterns. Croatia tend to build through the lines rather than expose space in behind, which places a premium on defensive positioning and communication rather than the recovery pace that went largely unchallenged here.

Full-backs Reece James and Nico O'Reilly both looked comfortable in possession and disciplined defensively. James in particular has the kind of experience at this level that means a friendly against a mid-tier opponent carries limited information value; his performance against Croatia in seven days will be the true measure. O'Reilly, by contrast, is still establishing himself in this environment, and the clean sheet will do his confidence no harm, even accounting for the modest test.

Harry Kane did not score in either friendly, though he tested Costa Rica goalkeeper Patrick Sequeira with a header reminiscent of his goal against New Zealand. A VAR review also overturned an initial penalty award after Kane was involved in the build-up to Gordon going down in the box in the first half. Kane's involvement remained prominent and his link play was evident throughout his hour on the pitch; the goals will come when the pressure is real. Historically, tournament football tends to bring the best out of England's all-time leading scorer, and there is little reason to expect that pattern to change.

The Bench Is Deeper Than Tuchel Is Letting On

One of the less-discussed elements of these two friendlies is what they reveal about the squad's overall depth. Bukayo Saka began tonight on the bench and still had a sight at goal after coming on. Kobbie Mainoo and Rogers also went close in the closing stages. Watkins, deployed as a substitute, scored with his second touch in competitive conditions. The fact that Tino Livramento, Dan Burn and Ivan Toney were the only outfield players not to start either friendly means Tuchel has rotated extensively and still managed to keep a coherent, attacking shape throughout both matches.

That depth matters not just for injury cover, which is always a factor at a seven-week tournament, but for the way England can alter the character of a game in the final half hour. Against a Croatia side who will be organised and experienced, the ability to introduce fresh, direct runners off the bench is a genuine tactical weapon. Watkins's late goal tonight was a reminder of that: a second-phase striker arriving into the game with his legs and instincts intact, converting from a situation that a starter might have had less sharpness to exploit after 87 minutes. It is the kind of goal that does not appear in the tactical analysis but can define a knockout tie.

Verdict: Tuchel Has the Momentum He Needed

England do not arrive at the 2026 World Cup as underdogs, but they do arrive with questions still circling: about the defensive unit against genuinely incisive opposition, about whether Bellingham can replicate his best club form in the international system, and about whether the squad's firepower is distributed efficiently enough to sustain a long run in the tournament. None of those questions are fully answered by three goals against a side that didn't qualify for the competition they're preparing for.

What the Costa Rica match does confirm, though, is that Tuchel's preferred XI is now largely settled and playing with a coherent identity. Gordon has made his case decisively. Rice is match-sharp despite his delayed arrival. Bellingham is in the form of someone who wants the biggest stage. And the attack in general, wasteful as it occasionally was on Wednesday evening, created enough chances against a defensive unit to suggest that the goals will flow once the competitive pressure is real.

The short trip to face Miami FC behind closed doors on Thursday serves as a final fitness session more than a genuine test. Then the focus shifts entirely to Croatia, and a group-stage opener that will tell us considerably more about where this England squad truly stands than anything that happened in a rain-delayed, one-sided evening in Florida. For now, the direction of travel is positive, and Tuchel would not have it any other way.

Sources: Reporting builds on UK sports press coverage of the match, with scoreline, goalscorers, timings, attendance and direct quotes verified against official match records and published post-match interviews.