Someone stole England's match boots. Days before their World Cup opener against Croatia. You genuinely cannot script it.
The theft happened during transportation from England's pre-tournament base in Florida to their training camp at Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City, Missouri. Among the stolen items: boots belonging to the squad's star players, official tournament balls, and training equipment. The FA declined to comment, which tells you everything about how they're handling the embarrassment, and will now liaise with local police to try to get the gear back before Wednesday.
Croatia on Wednesday, and no boots to train in
Thomas Tuchel's side were due to train at Swope Soccer Village for the first time on Saturday afternoon. Whether they do it in their match boots, borrowed pairs, or something hastily couriered overnight remains the FA's problem to solve. The logistics headache is real — elite players are notoriously particular about their footwear. These aren't off-the-shelf items. They're personalised, broken-in, and match-specific.
England face Croatia in Group L in Dallas on Wednesday. A camp that had genuine momentum — wins over New Zealand and Costa Rica in Florida, encouraging signs from Jude Bellingham at No 10, and a fitness race for Bukayo Saka to get through — now has an unwanted distraction layered on top.
Bellingham's display against Costa Rica reportedly puts him ahead of Morgan Rogers for the starting berth against Croatia. Saka is managing an achilles issue. Ezri Konsa and John Stones look likely to edge out Marc Guéhi at centre-back. Those are the stories that should be driving England's build-up.
Instead the FA is filing a police report in Missouri. Any pre-tournament goodwill from the Florida camp — the heat acclimatisation, the controlled results, the tactical tinkering — has been overshadowed by a theft that should never have happened. Whatever security protocols existed around the equipment transfer clearly weren't enough.
England haven't won a major tournament since 1966. Their first training session at the actual World Cup base will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
