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 Monday 29 June? Here you can find out in our Three Lions Daily Briefing.

Following their arrival back at base camp in Kansas City on Saturday evening, it was a recovery day for the England squad following their 2-0 victory over Panama in their final group stage game, as seen by Harry Kane's stretching exercise above.

Jude Bellingham and Kane were on target in a win that ensured the Three Lions qualified for the Round of 32 as group winners and means they will face DR Congo in Atlanta on Wednesday 1 July.

Monday morning

The squad will be back on their training ground at Swope Soccer Village on Monday morning, following breakfast at their hotel. The session will be closed, as England's preparations for their trip to Atlanta continue.

Birthday boys

There's a double celebration in camp on Monday too, as both Eberechi Eze and Jude Bellingham celebrate another trip around the sun. Eze turns 28 while for Bellingham, he's now 23. To celebrate their special day, why not revisit their 'Origins' stories with Eze's here and Jude's here, as they both look back on their journey from grassroots football to the England senior team. 

Media duties

After training, a selection of players will head to the media centre while the next episode of Lions' Den connected by EE will be also be filmed with Monday's guests to be confirmed later. As always, the show will be aired first on the official England app on Monday evening.

The headlines

As attention turns to the first knockout stage of the FIFA World Cup 2026, we've been looking at what will be the England senior men's team's first ever meeting with DR Congo.

You can read more about our Round of 32 opponents here as well as our pre-match stat pack here. You can also look back at England's record against nations from Africa in the World Cup from down the years here.