England stars recover from 1-0 warm-up win over New Zealand by cooling off in the pool ahead of World Cup kick-off

ENGLAND stars cool off in the pool ahead of the World Cup kick-off. Marc Guéhi was snapped lounging in the water with a stars and stripes pool ring while Ollie Watkins and Jordan Henderson tried out the official new Trionda World Cup 2026 ball. They were recovering in Florida from a 1-0 warm-up win over New Zealand, before playing Costa Rica tomorrow. Now the squad prepares for their first official World Cup clash when they face Croatia on 17 June at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Thomas Tuchel‘s side are looking to end 60 years of heartbreak at international tournaments and win the global showpiece for a second time. The tournament gets underway on Thursday in Mexico City, but the Three Lions will have to wait to start their campaign in Dallas, Texas. Read More on Sport They will do so against the side that broke the hearts of Gareth Southgate‘s squad in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup – Croatia reached the final after Mario Mandzukic’s heartbreaking extra-time strike. Since then, Southgate has been replaced by Tuchel in the hopes that the Champions League-winning manager can propel England to glory in North America this summer. This time around, the two nations have been drawn in Group L, alongside Panama and Ghana. It has been a golden period in Croatia‘s footballing history over the past two World Cups, with Luka Modric and Co taking the country of under four million people to the final in 2018 and a third-place finish in Qatar four years ago.