England's preparations for the 2026 World Cup got off to an inauspicious start.
After an injury-free training camp in Florida, England reported their equipment to be missing upon arriving at their Swope Soccer Village base. The Missouri police department said it was investigating the theft.
The FA has indicated that most of the training gear has been recovered and there was no impact when Thomas Tuchel's side trained for the first time in Missouri.
England backup goalkeeper Dean Henderson, when asked if his boots and gloves made it to Kansas City, said: “Yeah, thankfully. I think they got stolen but we got them back so it's all good.”
Defender Dan Burn found out about the incident through the media reports, stating he “wouldn't be able to move very much” if his boots had not turned up.
“We've not made a big deal out of it,” he said. “I've got everything I need, so I'm quite happy.
“We know that stuff has been left to the police and as a group we've not really spoken about that at all.”
Asked if the FA had spoken to the players, Burn added: “To be honest, it's not really been spoken about, so I think that shows for us that they're not too worried about it as well.”
“We're here to train. The first day out here, so it's not disrupted our preparation.”
Kansas City police department confirmed to the Associated Press that two people had been taken into custody.
Later, Kansas City was hit with a tornado warning just hours after the team arrived.
Tuchel's side arrived in the Midwest on Saturday lunchtime after a day and a half in Florida. They held a community training session at their Swope Soccer Village base in sunshine.
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But a heavy storm moved in during the early evening and people in the local area, including the England camp, received an emergency alert which warned them to take shelter.
England's pre-tournament camp in Florida was also affected by weather issues, including their final warm-up friendly against Costa Rica being delayed by an hour after a thunderstorm.
England face Croatia in their first Group L match on Wednesday in Arlington.
