England's first World Cup training in Kansas City reveals early clues for Croatia clash

England held their initial World Cup training session in Kansas City with key players working apart, raising questions about the starting lineup against Croatia.

England's arrival and first training The England team reached their dedicated World Cup base in Kansas City on Saturday and immediately began preparations. After checking into the Inn at Meadowbrook Hotel in Prairie Village, where they will stay for the duration of their time in the United States, the squad traveled 20 minutes to Swope Soccer Village for their first training session since arriving in Missouri. The local community welcomed Tuchel's group warmly, though under tight security with a motorcade escort. The players, however, faced no shield from the intense heat, as temperatures climbed to around 31C during the session. ## Starting lineup hints emerge in Missouri Insights gathered on Friday suggested the same eleven players who started against Costa Rica might line up against Croatia in Dallas on Tuesday, and Saturday’s session provided further hints. For part of the practice, ten outfield players from the Costa Rica match—Jude Bellingham, Ezri Konsa, John Stones, Nico O’Reilly, Elliot Anderson, Harry Kane, Anthony Gordon, Declan Rice, Noni Madueke and Reece James—trained separately from the rest of the squad. While this could be coincidental, it offers clues about Tuchel’s potential starting eleven. One possible change might see Bukayo Saka replace Madueke, though concerns over the Arsenal forward’s fitness have cast doubt over his availability. Saka remained outside the apparent starting group and did not appear fully mobile. ## England downplays stolen equipment incident Players addressed the theft of items from a vehicle transporting equipment from England’s pre-tournament camp in Florida to Kansas City, which occurred Friday night. Kansas City police confirmed charges against two men, Mustafa Salik and Erfan Kamal, connected to the theft of property worth $18,000. The Football Association stated no high-performance equipment was taken and most items have since been recovered. Among the stolen items were four pairs of boots, one ball, goalkeeper gloves, and training kit. Dan Burn commented: 'I’ve not lost anything personally, we found out from you guys. It's with the police now so not sure how much I can comment. It's not really been spoken about so that just shows for us that they aren't too worried about it - it's not really disrupted our preparations.' ## Focus sharpens ahead of first World Cup test With England’s World Cup preparations intensifying, attention now turns to the group-stage matches. The Florida camp focused on adjusting to hot and humid conditions, while training in Kansas City shifts toward specific readiness for matches against Croatia, Ghana, and Panama. Tuchel stated: 'We have acclimatised, they have worked hard enough and been exposed to enough heat - we are in a good place. The focus is on Croatia, today is about settling in and from tomorrow it's about three days preparation for Croatia.' Captain Harry Kane echoed the sentiment, saying: 'This is where the business starts, this is going to be our home for the next six weeks hopefully - we look forward to getting started. I thought it was a high level performance against Costa Rica – and now we prepare for a tough first game. Croatia are a difficult team, they have proved in the last two World Cups that they can be one of the best teams in the tournament and we have to be ready for that.' ## World Cup 2026 key details The FIFA World Cup 2026 is underway with England’s men's football team competing in the tournament. Group fixtures and standings are central to the competition, and broadcast details are available for viewing the matches.