Thomas Tuchel shares 'concern' he has before England's World Cup warm-up

Thomas Tuchel shared he is worried and concerned about the pitch quality at Raymond James Stadium ahead of England's first World Cup warm-up fixture against New Zealand.The Three Lions touched down in Florida earlier this week to acclimatise to the hot and humid conditions.The pitch was installed just seven days ago, with fears raised about the turf, which appears uneven and poorly connected.Commenting on the pitch, Tuchel said: I just saw it now. It will not affect my team selection because what I have heard until now is that it should be okay, and we want it, of course, to be okay. TRENDING Stories Videos Your Say I saw just a photo from your colleague that made me a little bit worried and concerned, but let's decide when we are there.If there are any issues, we can always react to it. The plan is tomorrow to play 45, 45 minutes with two complete teams, to expose everyone to the same amount of minutes.Then we can continue the next three days with the same load of training. That is the plan, and at the moment we stick to the plan.The Three Lions have been training in Miami ahead of their preparation fixtures against New Zealand and Costa Rica.Speaking ahead of their first World Cup warm-up fixture, Tuchel said: I think tomorrow is mainly focused more on the minutes, so we will share the minutes.But at the same time it's also to reconnect to our identity and the stuff that we did good, so we had a lot of meetings offensively and defensively and want to see how far we can push this already.It is maybe more about connections on each side, more about connections in the back four, on the side, in attack.England have travelled to Tampa with a 27-man squad, including uncapped training group members Alex Scott, Rio Ngumoha, Josh King and Ethan Nwaneri, along with training goalkeeper Jason Steele.LATEST SPORTS NEWS:World Cup 2026: Is Harry Kane England's GREATEST ever striker? | FIRST EVER coach gives HIS verdictSir Keir Starmer lays into Fifa claiming bottle ban for World Cup is 'about making money'England to start World Cup preparations on 'plug and play' pitch as concerns raised over its qualityThey will fill the gaps of Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze, with the players having a week off after losing the Champions League final to PSG.Speaking about the absent players, Tuchel said: I think there is no need to be overly disappointed and to carry it into the World Cup campaign. I don't see that.I will see them tomorrow, and I think it will be no issue to lift them if needed.But I saw pictures, and I heard messages already that they're happy to come, the group is waiting.We're in good spirits, so this is normally what helps, and I think they're very well aware of what they achieved this season.England kick off against New Zealand on Saturday at 9pm.Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter