Tornado warning greets England on first day at Kansas City World Cup base

Thomas Tuchel’s England squad touched down in Kansas City on Saturday lunchtime only to find a tornado warning hanging over their first day at the World Cup base, with severe storms forecast to sweep through the city in the early evening.

The squad checked into the Inn at Meadowbrook in the south of the city before heading to Swope Soccer Village at 5pm local time for a community training session in 30-degree Celsius heat. Around 700 spectators watched the session, while a couple of hundred fans had gathered outside the hotel to welcome the players on arrival.

As the storms approached, FIFA’s fan festival in the city was shut down early as a precaution. A statement from organisers read: “Due to anticipated severe weather, Fifa fan festival will be closing early at 5pm and will not reopen today. The safety of the public, staff, volunteers and entertainers remains our top priority.”

All 26 members of England’s squad trained despite the threatening conditions. The team’s pre-tournament camp in Florida had already been disrupted by weather, including a one-hour delay to their final warm-up friendly against Costa Rica caused by a thunderstorm, though Saturday’s tornado warning represented a more serious threat.

The turbulent arrival came on top of an unwelcome piece of news from their base: a theft of training equipment, including some of the squad’s boots and official tournament balls, was reported on Friday.

England open their World Cup campaign against Croatia on Wednesday before further Group L fixtures against Ghana and Panama, as Tuchel’s side bid to end 60 years without a World Cup title.