England coach points to heat as an obstacle in the World Cup

The heat and humidity will be obstacles to be overcome, but England fully believes in its ability and can go far in the World Cup, said coach Thomas Tuchel this Monday (1st).

Many of the players were scheduled to fly to Miami for a 10-day period of adaptation to the hot climate before the tournament.

Arsenal athletes Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze were given more time to recover after the defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final, played on Saturday (30), in Budapest, and will have their trip postponed.

Crystal Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson, who helped the London club win the Conference League last week, is also expected to arrive later and miss the friendly against New Zealand in Tampa next Saturday.

Meeting in Palm Beach
The other 21 players, some of them on vacation in the Americas and the Caribbean, will meet in West Palm Beach.

"When I started following the games again and organized our training and meetings to reconnect the team in Florida with everything we had already built, I saw a lot of quality," Tuchel told Sky Sports.

"It immediately gave me complete confidence and excitement that we can go very far."

Tuchel acknowledged that the heat will not be an advantage for England after a long and exhausting club season.

"We are not used to playing in this type of heat and humidity, and even at altitude, if we play in Mexico," he said. "There will be many challenges in this World Cup. The heat is one of them, but we are already prepared."

"We understand players' individual reactions to heat and have cooling strategies in place. We have received help from the British Olympic team and experts from around the world to develop solutions to help athletes adapt."

"We know exactly how long we want to expose them during pre-season, what is the ideal period to train in the sun and we also know not to overdo it."

Extreme heat was a major concern during the 2025 Club World Cup in the United States, with medical experts and players' unions raising concerns about heat stress, dehydration and slower recovery times.

Tuchel highlighted that England are not looking for excuses ahead of the tournament, which will be played in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

"The heat is a factor, but I don't want it to seem like we're already making excuses," he said. "It's just not something that works in our favor and it's an obstacle we're going to need to overcome."

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Source: CNN