England line up Nigeria, Costa Rica for World Cup warm-ups

England are to host Nigeria at Wembley on June 2 and face Costa Rica at Elland Road five days later, before kicking off their World Cup Group G campaign against Tunisia on June 18.

England line up Nigeria, Costa Rica for World Cup warm-ups

(Reuters)





Manager Gareth Southgate is confident that the fixtures will help prepare England for their World Cup opener as well as their second group match against Panama on June 24.

"We've mostly played European opposition up to now and the Brazil game (a 0-0 draw in November) acted as a reminder that we need to challenge ourselves in different ways as a team," Southgate said.

"We're going into a World Cup where we will play African and Central American opposition so we get that with the games against Nigeria and Costa Rica, but it's not just about the games we've got in the group but hopefully beyond that as well.

"We want to expose the team to different styles and different experiences."

England will conclude pool play against Group G top seeds Belgium on June 28.

Southgate's side have also scheduled March friendlies against Netherlands and Italy, both of whom failed to qualify for the World Cup finals.





(Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru)


Share

1 min read

Published

Source: Reuters



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world