England confirm March opponents for final games before Thomas Tuchel picks 2026 World Cup squad

The Football Association have scheduled two friendlies against Uruguay and Japan on March 27 and 31, respectively. These games represent the last chance for players to stake a claim prior to Tuchel naming his group for the 2026 finals. The FA is also planning a series of further friendlies in the United States in June, giving Tuchel and his staff valuable time to acclimatise to conditions ahead of their opening match on June 17 in Dallas.

Uruguay, ranked 16th in the world by FIFA, will provide England’s first challenge of 2026. The fixture marks Uruguay’s first visit to England in two decades. The last meeting on British soil came in 2006, when Peter Crouch and Joe Cole secured a 2-1 win at Anfield. The more recent encounter between the two nations took place at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, which ended in a 2-1 defeat for England, courtesy of Luis Suarez’s brace, while Wayne Rooney scored the only goal for England. 

Japan, ranked 18th, complete the March pairing. England’s limited history with the Samurai Blue consists of only three previous contests, the most recent of which came in Austria ahead of the 2010 World Cup. That game resulted in a 2-1 English victory. Their only previous Wembley meeting came in 1995, a 2-1 England win. In a clash in Manchester in 2004, the two teams played out a 1-1 draw.

Tuchel said he specifically sought opponents inside the world’s top 20 to ensure the competitive level was sufficiently high.

"We are really pleased to have these two fixtures confirmed as our World Cup year takes shape," he said. "We wanted to play two teams ranked in the top 20 in the world, but also to test ourselves against opponents from outside of Europe. After Friday’s draw, the excitement for next year is really building."

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Tuchel admitted that the cooler temperatures on America’s East Coast, where England will play two of their group games, against Ghana and Panama in Boston and New York, respectively, come as a personal relief. 

Talking to talkSPORT, Tuchel said: "That would be very helpful for me personally! But I didn't get my head fully around it, so we need to come up with a good plan to be well prepared. We need to be prepared to be flexible, we need to be prepared to travel a lot no matter what's happening. The biggest focus will be on the group and to not get distracted in thinking too far ahead."

Tuchel is aware that external perceptions of England have changed. For years, debates raged over whether the national team could live up to the extraordinary individual reputations of its players. Now, after qualifying with eight wins from eight, remarkably without conceding a single goal, England arrive in the United States as one of the contenders most feared by other nations.

On being considered as a favourite, Tuchel added: "I think they [other nations] do. We made sure that they do, if they don't do it's also good, so we can play the underdog card. But I think the team played so well and they know that we are full of hunger and we will arrive full of desire to make something special happen, they take us very seriously."

England’s campaign begins against Croatia on June 17 in Dallas, followed by Ghana in Boston on June 23 and Panama in New York on June 27. The match timings, 9 pm, 9 pm and 10 pm BST, have been welcomed by supporters who feared dawn kick-offs, given the five-hour time difference between England and most host cities. Indeed, the group stage offers relatively comfortable viewing windows for UK audiences. 

But progress could complicate matters. Should England top Group L, their first knockout fixture in the round of 32 would take place in Atlanta at 5 pm BST. Beyond that, however, the schedule becomes far more gruelling. Their round of 16 tie, should they win the group, would begin at 1 am BST, potentially against co-hosts Mexico at the iconic Azteca Stadium. It would represent one of the most unforgiving kick-off times for an English fan.