England's Ollie Watkins insists substitutes will be key to World Cup success

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Rice hails England's 'frightening' attacking substitutes (0:41)

England striker Ollie Watkins has said the World Cup could be a tournament for substitutes to "show what they can do."

Watkins came off the bench to score England's third goal in a 3-0 win over Costa Rica in their final warm-up friendly in Orlando.

The Aston Villa front man was one of several introductions from the bench that added intensity to the performance, with Eberechi Eze, Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Morgan Rogers all having an impact as the Central Americans tired towards the end of the game.

With the tournament being played in stifling conditions and at different altitudes, boss Thomas Tuchel will expect players to come off the bench and make a difference.

"Even being sat on the bench you can see how hot it is when you're not even playing, let alone what the players are going through, running around at a high intensity," Watkins said.

"The game opens up at 60-70 minutes and what better way than fresh legs to come on and show what they can do?"

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Watkins is set to get a run out as England wind up their pre-tournament camp with a behind-closed-doors friendly against Miami FC before the squad gets a couple of days off ahead of the switch to their tournament base in Kansas City.

"I think we have worked hard continuously, a lot of days on our feet, a lot of training sessions," he said. "Even if we haven't been training, we have been doing a lot of meetings and set-piece meetings.

"It will be good to have some downtime before we go to Kansas."