By the end, the England fans were chanting “It’s Coming Home.”
It might be a bit early to get that carried away, but this was a perfect warm-up for Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup campaign.
As auditions go, Jude Bellingham passed with flying colours, Anthony Gordon was excellent and scored while Declan Rice was also on target as he carried on where he left off for Arsenal.
John Stones did his chances a power of good and England were sharp, finished really well and had clearly gone up a notch on their previous friendly performance against New Zealand last Saturday.
And into the mix, they also had a taste of what is to come this summer because kick-off was delayed by an hour because of a ferocious thunderstorm in Orlando.
Thomas Tuchel’s men were in a hotel ten minutes down the road and just had to bide their time until they were given the all clear. But despite the pitch looking flooded and waterlogged little over an hour until kick-off, the rain was swept away and sunshine replaced the clouds.
Bellingham started ahead of Morgan Rogers and Gordon’s nod ahead of Marcus Rashford felt equally significant. And the players took their chances as Bellingham was commanding in midfield while Gordon looked razor sharp despite his lack of minutes in the closing weeks of the Premier League season.
England’s training camp in Florida is clearly having an effect because they coped with the storm, the humidity and got stronger as the game wore on even if Costa Rica were pretty poor.
England started with real menace. Bellingham saw a shot deflected just wide. It did not take England to go ahead.
View 3 ImagesJude Bellingham impressed after being named in Tuchel’s starting XI vs Costa Rica
Gordon made a great run down the left, cut the ball back for Rice who swept it home into the far corner. England were on a completely different level to Costa Rica.
Rice’s free kick set up a great chance for Kane whose header forced a good save from Costa Rica keeper Patrick Mejias.
Madueke was guilty of an astonishing miss. The Arsenal winger skipped through, rounded the keeper but then hit the post with an open goal in front of him.
Gordon thought he was tripped for a penalty which was initially given and then overturned after a VAR review. Madueke restored some pride with a sensational effort which curdled just wide.
View 3 ImagesAnthony Gordon put in an impressive performance to stake his claim to start vs Croatia
Tuchel made a raft of changes and they finally got a second. It was Bellingham’s run into the box and his cut back to substitute Eberechi Eze whose shot was deflected wide by the arm of Costa Rica’s Darryl Samuels.
Gordon stepped up to take the kick and smashed it into the top corner to really seal the win and complete his impressive audition to start the World Cup.
The substitutions shook it up. Bukayo Saka is a fitness worry but came on and looked good as did all the other substitutes and they stepped up a gear.
England really looked hungry, ready and sharp. If they looked sluggish last weekend, they looked further down the road and ready for the tournament.
Rogers’ shot was spilled by the Costa Rica keeper and Ollie Watkins was on hand to put in the rebound late on.
Article continues below
That finished the win and really had the England fans singing in delight. For those who got drenched before kick-off, they were smiling by the end.
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Upgrade your World Cup TV setup with the Sky Glass ‘designed for football’This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
from £4.50SkyGet the deal here
Sky is knocking 20% off its entire range of Glass TVs to mark the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Until June 17, shoppers can upgrade to the Sky smart TV that’s ‘designed for football’ from £4.50 per month when taken alongside a Sky TV and Netflix package.