Online Reporter
SITTING in the dressing room, fiddling with their phones, waiting for the green light to finally go out for the warm-up.
England’s players were given a crash course in dealing with the unpredictable, slightly bonkers North American weather here in Orlando.
The players waited patiently for an hour as both the rain and lightning pushed the kick-off back to 5pm local time. But this strong England team, which will not be a million miles away from the side that starts the World Cup against Croatia, responded impressively.
Albeit against a weak Costa Rica team, they delivered a bright, energetic performance with Declan Rice returning from his extended break following the Champions League final with an early opening goal, set up by Anthony Gordon who then fired a second-half penalty
It was not just the Ant and Dec show, though. Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane combined brilliantly, while midfielder Elliot Anderson proved exactly why Manchester City are desperate to sign him.
Manager Thomas Tuchel, who did not make any changes until he brought on six subs in the 63rd minute, has plenty to think about ahead of the opening game against the Croatians on June 17. That tricky fixture in Dallas will be under a roof but there will definitely be other issues over the coming weeks, weather-wise.
When England finally leave their Florida warm-up base on Saturday, England will head to their official World Cup headquarters in Kansas with the area having the second-highest number of tornadoes each year in the United States.
So, what could possibly go wrong?
Hilariously, even though the match here was in doubt at one stage due to the atrocious conditions the sprinklers came on both before and after the teams warmed up. And just before the first drinks break, the sun made an appearance.
Reece James, Noni Madueke, John Stones, Nico O’Reilly, Bellingham and Kane all suffered various issues with the weather at the Club World Cup last summer but for the rest, this was a new experience.
Although it was a strong team, this will not necessarily be the same line-up which walks out at the home of the Dallas Cowboys in six days’ time, with four positions still up for grabs.
Marc Guehi will still fancy his chances of starting ahead of Ezri Konsa, Marcus Rashford will look to prove himself at the expense of Gordon.
Morgan Rogers will still hope to play in place of Bellingham, although the Real Madrid star certainly boosted his own chances.
The big worry is the fitness of Bukayo Saka and it was not surprising he started on the bench because he is not even completing every training session. Madueke, though, did not take his chance and he was replaced by Saka, who finished the game as captain. – Sun.
