England to play World Cup warm-up in front of over 50,000 empty seats

England are set to play their World Cup warm-up match in front of over 50,000 empty seats.

Only 13,000 tickets have been sold for the Three Lions contest against New Zealand at the 69,000-seat Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

Tickets start from £54, significantly lower than prices at the World Cup, which kicks off on June 11.

Only 12,000 tickets have been bought for the second friendly against Costa Rica, less than half of the 25,000-seater stadium in Orlando.

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Some 1,500 official England Supporters Travel Club members are expected to attend the New Zealand match, according to The Times.

The Three Lions kick off their tournament against Croatia on June 17, then face Ghana six days later and Panama on June 27.

Last week, Thomas Tuchel named his 26-man squad for the World Cup.

The German left out several notable names from his side, including Cole Palmer, Phil Foden and Harry Maguire.

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The goalkeeping options are: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace) and James Trafford (Manchester City).

In defence: Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Marc Guehi (Manchester City), Reece James (Chelsea), Nico O'Reilly (Manchester City), Dan Burn (Newcastle United), Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen), Tino Livramento (Newcastle United), and Djed Spence (Tottenham Hotspur).

Midfielders: Declan Rice (Arsenal), Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest), Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United), Jordan Henderson (Brentford), Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid) and Eberechi Eze (Arsenal).

Attackers: Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Ivan Toney (Al Ahli), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Noni Madueke (Arsenal), Marcus Rashford (Barcelona) and Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United).

England will head to Florida in early June for their pre-World Cup training camp.

All of the Three Lions group stage games will be played in the US, which is hosting alongside Canada and Mexico.

The Football Association must submit the 26-man squad to Fifa by May 31, but can make changes to outfield players for medical reasons up until 24 hours before the Group L opener against Croatia.

Only goalkeepers can be altered after this point.

The back-to-back European Championship runners-up are among the favourites to triumph in North America.

England skipper Harry Kane is optimistic heading into the tournament, believing that the squad "is as good as we've ever had".

He said: "I think when you look at the starting 11, you look at the players coming off the bench, we're going into the tournament as one of the favourites.

"We've been building together as a team over the past few camps under Thomas.

"I think we've set the standard, and now we look forward to continuing this into the World Cup next month. There's always something special about playing at the World Cup."

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