Three Lions Daily: What's coming up for England today?

What happens behind the scenes with the England team during the FIFA World Cup 2026? What does their day look like today, on Wednesday 1 July? Here you can find out in our Three Lions Daily Briefing.

It's matchday! The wait is over and the squad arrived in Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday evening following their flight from Kansas City earlier in the afternoon ahead of the Round of 32 game with DR Congo.

Following their arrival, head coach Thomas Tuchel and goalkeeper Jordan Pickford got an early taste of the Atlanta Stadium as they were transported there for the pre-match press conference ahead of the game

The rest of the squad headed to their team base hotel in Atlanta to rest ahead of the game. 

Matchday morning

With a kick-off at noon local time, or 5pm BST for those at home, this will be the earliest time of day England have played at the FIFA World Cup 2026 so far. After breakfast and a final team meeting on Wednesday morning, the players will then head to the venue where they will play a first-ever senior game against DR Congo.

Back to Kansas

Following the match, the England squad will be on a flight back to Missouri and their base in Kansas City, with the journey scheduled to take a little over two hours and ensuring the group will be back at base by early evening.

The headlines

Tuchel spoke in his press conference about what he's expecting from opponents DR Congo along with the latest injury news.

Meanwhile, Pickford was asked about his own preparations in the event of a penalty shootout, if it's required.

Morgan Rogers and Jordan Henderson were the guests on Tuesday's edition of the Lions' Den, which is available to watch first in the app right now.

You can also follow all of the build-up throughout the day via our live matchday blog, which will be available in the app from 9am BST.

Ahead of the game with DR Congo, there's also our pre-match stat pack, with all the numbers you need to know as well as a profile of the DR Congo squad and their World Cup journey so far. We've also picked out three to watch from the DR Congo squad following their campaign in North America.

And you can look back at England's record against nations from Africa in the World Cup from down the years here.