Earthquake strikes England's Florida World Cup base as buildings shake across Orlando

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the western coast of Cuba on Monday night, sending tremors through Orlando and other parts of Florida where England’s World Cup squad are based. No injuries or property damage have been reported, and the National Weather Service confirmed there is no tsunami risk to the United States.

England are stationed more than 150 miles from the epicentre, but tremors were felt across Orlando, Miami, and Jacksonville, with multiple buildings evacuated as a precaution after they began to shake. Videos circulating on social media showed structures visibly moving during the quake, which the National Weather Service confirmed after receiving widespread reports of shaking across south-western Florida.

“We’ve received several recent reports of shaking across Southwestern Florida within the past 30 minutes,” the National Weather Service said in a statement. “An earthquake has occurred just west of Cuba in the southern Gulf. USGS has since revised the magnitude down to a 6.1 at a depth of 10km.”

Thomas Tuchel’s side are using the Florida camp to acclimatise to the heat and humidity ahead of their tournament opener against Croatia on June 17. England face Costa Rica in Orlando on Wednesday night — their final warm-up fixture — before relocating to their tournament base in Missouri.

Tuchel has acknowledged the physical demands the conditions place on his squad, but framed the adversity as useful preparation. “It will be tough, it will be hopefully a long World Cup,” he said. “It will be a lot of travelling, it will be a lot of adversity, from the heat, from humidity. We had a delay in training already for almost one hour because of lightning. But that’s also the task for us — to have an atmosphere where we stay calm, where we stay patient and where we adapt to the circumstances.”

England took a rest and recovery day on Sunday following Saturday’s win over New Zealand in Tampa, in which Tuchel fielded two entirely different XIs across the match. The head coach has indicated Wednesday’s line-up against Costa Rica may more closely resemble the side he intends to start when competitive play begins.