Image credit: Getty Images. Viszlát! Sami Mokbel. – Mi folyik itt? Senior football reporter based in Kansas City. Le 14 juin 2026, à 63 h 01 BST. England touched down at their permanent World Cup base in Kansas City on Saturday and wasted no time getting to work. After checking into the Inn at Meadowbrook Hotel in Prairie Village — their home for the duration of the tournament — they made the short 20-minute journey to Swope Soccer Village for their first training session since arriving in Missouri.
Locals greeted Thomas Tuchel’s squad warmly, though the welcome came with heavy security; the players were escorted by a protective motorcade. There was no shielding them from the blistering sun, however, as temperatures climbed to around 31°C while they were put through their paces.
Here’s what BBC Sport observed from England’s opening training session in Kansas City.
Same again for England? BBC Sport reported on Friday that there are growing indications the side which began against Costa Rica last week is likely to be the one Thomas Tuchel chooses for England’s opening match against Croatia on Wednesday. That view gained further weight during Saturday’s training session, when the ten outfield players who started against Costa Rica — Jude Bellingham, Ezri Konsa, John Stones, Nico O’Reilly, Elliot Anderson, Harry Kane, Anthony Gordon, Declan Rice, Noni Madueke and Reece James — worked separately from the rest of the squad.
It could, of course, have been nothing more than a coincidence that those ten were grouped together. Yet anyone searching for clues about how Tuchel’s team might line up in Dallas on Tuesday would be forgiven for seeing significance in the split.
One obvious change from the side that beat Costa Rica would be Bukayo Saka coming in for Madueke. However, Tuchel’s admission that Saka needs careful management throughout the tournament because of fitness issues has cast doubt on how much involvement the Arsenal winger will have. During the session he trained apart from what appeared to be the probable starting group and still did not look fully fluent in his movements. England are playing down the concerns. After the training session, the players seemed keen to downplay the significance of the theft, which occurred on Friday when equipment was stolen. It emerged on Friday night that items had been taken from a vehicle transporting gear from England’s pre-tournament base in Florida to Kansas City. On Saturday night, Kansas City police confirmed that two men, Mustafa Salik and Erfan Kamal, had been charged in connection with the incident, in which around $18,000 worth of property was sold. The Football Association has stressed that no elite performance equipment was missing and that most of the stolen items have now been recovered. Reports suggest the property taken consisted of four pairs of football boots, one ball, a pair of goalkeeper gloves and some training kit. Discussing the theft, Dan Burn said: “I haven’t lost anything personally. We found out from you guys (the media). It’s with the police now, so I’m not sure how much I can say.” The fact that it’s barely been mentioned suggests they’re not overly concerned – it hasn’t really affected our preparations.