England to host Costa Rica and Nigeria in World Cup warm-ups

INTERNATIONAL: England will host Nigeria and Costa Rica in World Cup warm-up friendlies in June.

The Three Lions will take on Nigeria at Wembley on June 2 and then Costa Rica at Elland Road five days later before heading off for the tournament in Russia.

Gareth Southgate’s men are in World Cup Group G, along with Tunisia, Panama and Belgium.

England have played twice before at Leeds’ 37,890-capacity Elland Road — a 2-1 defeat to Italy in March 2002 and a 3-3 draw with Sweden in June 1995.

The ground also staged matches in 1996 when England hosted the European Championship.

Taking home games on the road is something England did in the build-up to Euro 2016, playing games at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light and Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium.

Southgate’s (left) men already have two friendlies scheduled for March, against Holland in Amsterdam and Italy at Wembley. Their World Cup campaign begins against Tunisia in Volgograd on June 18. They then play debutants Panama in Nizhny Novgorod on June 24 before concluding the group stage against Belgium four days later in Kaliningrad.