England Prepares for World Cup After Training in Florida
Thomas Tuchel walked off England’s training pitch in Florida on Thursday with the look of a man itching for the real thing. The camp in West Palm Beach is done, the heat has done its work, and now the World Cup chapter shifts to Kansas City.
England, still carrying the sting of their Euro 2024 final defeat, have arrived in North America as one of the sides everyone is watching. They landed in Florida last Monday with a simple brief: suffer now, so they don’t suffer later. Two games in brutal conditions later, the plan looks on track.
The 1-0 win over New Zealand in Tampa was a slog, a test of lungs and legs as much as tactics. The 3-0 victory against Costa Rica in Orlando, delayed by the weather and played in suffocating heat, felt different. Sharper. Meaner. More like a team ready to move up a gear.
Tuchel had demanded exactly that.
“I said before the match that we want to push it to the next level, from intensity, commitment, cohesion, and we did that,” he said after the Costa Rica win, clearly satisfied with what he had seen. The scoreline flattered no one; it simply confirmed the direction of travel.
He spoke of the “impact of the Arsenal players coming into camp” and the way the training load has begun to show on the pitch. The adaptation to the heat, the rhythm, the understanding – all of it, he insisted, is starting to click.
“We see the adaptation to the heat, we see the adaptation to the climate and we see things clicking, but we demanded from the players to take a next step, and they did,” Tuchel said. “That was what we wished for and the group of players delivered, and I'm proud of them how they did it.”
The message underneath the praise was clear: the standards have been set. The result, he argued, will always follow if the performance is right.
“Anyway, the most important, how we play, and the result then takes care of itself, but we did it on a high level, and for this moment it was very good to almost end the prep camp like this.”
Almost. Because the real work starts now.
England fly to Kansas City on Saturday, a base they hope to occupy until mid-July. They open their World Cup campaign there next Wednesday against Croatia in Group L, a meeting loaded with tournament history and emotional baggage. Tuchel, though, is looking forward, not back. He cannot wait to start, and his players have been left in no doubt that what they produced in Orlando is the minimum required.
While England leave the heat of Florida behind, Morocco head into the tournament nursing fresh wounds.
Two of their key men, Nayef Aguerd and Abde Ezzalzouli, have been ruled out, a double blow confirmed by the Moroccan federation and FIFA. Both were central figures in Morocco’s remarkable run to the semi-finals in Qatar and their appearance in the Africa Cup of Nations final on home soil in January. Both will now watch this World Cup from the sidelines.
Aguerd’s absence has been a slow, painful story. The 30-year-old defender has not played since early March because of a groin injury that required surgery. Just when it seemed he might turn a corner, doctors discovered a fracture of his pubic bone in April. Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahabi kept the door open as long as he could, hoping his defender would somehow make it. On Thursday, the decision finally came: Aguerd will not be ready for the tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
For Ezzalzouli, the blow was sudden and cruel. The 24-year-old was injured in a freak incident in the weekend friendly against Norway in Harrison, New Jersey. As Morocco defended a corner, teammate Chadi Riad landed awkwardly on Ezzalzouli’s right knee. He tried to continue. He couldn’t. Soon, he was off.
It is not the first time injury has ripped a World Cup away from Aguerd. He was hurt in the last-16 tie against Spain in Qatar and missed Morocco’s final three matches of that historic campaign. Now, another tournament passes him by just as Morocco were hoping to build on that momentum.
Ouahabi and his staff had at least planned for the worst. Saudi-based defender Marwane Saadane and striker Amine Sbai were already with the group in the United States as cover and have now been officially added to the squad. Saadane, 34, made his debut for Morocco in 2015 but has never truly nailed down a permanent role. Sbai, 25, a left-sided forward, only won his first cap this month in a World Cup warm-up against Burundi.
Both have been training with the squad and easing into the rhythm. Saadane came on in the second half of Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Norway, while Sbai was among the substitutes. Now they step into a World Cup dressing room knowing they are no longer just insurance policies.
Morocco open their Group C campaign against Brazil at the New York/New Jersey Stadium on Saturday. A global heavyweight on day one, without two of their most trusted players. For a team that has made a habit of defying expectation, the test has arrived early.
