Arsenal’s players have joined England’s training camp - and the Three Lions need Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka up to speed straight away.
The first time that Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice were called up to major tournament, they spent their spare time horsing around in the swimming pool on inflatable unicorns. Five years on, and everything feels just a little more serious for a pair of players who now define the way that England play.
Bukayo Saka & Declan Riceplaceholder image
Bukayo Saka & Declan Rice | Getty Images
Saka and Rice, along with their Arsenal colleagues Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke, sat out the 1-0 win over New Zealand having arrived at England’s Florida training camp just a day earlier. The extra rest was necessary following their involvement in the Champions League final, but it also means that two of Thomas Tuchel’s most influential players are playing catch-up as they acclimatise to the heat and humidity of the American summer. The speed at which they can bridge that gap in preparation may have a significant impact on their chances of becoming world champions in a little over a month’s time.
England need their Arsenal stars fit and firing at the World Cup
When the squad wakes up ahead of their final warm-up game against Costa Rica on Wednesday, the humidity is forecast to be 90%, likely dropping as thundery showers break over Orlando. The thermometer could hit 33°. The opposition may provide a less fearsome test than the climate.
The rest of the England squad have been preparing for this – 45-minute exercise bike workouts in sealed and heated tents have been a more prominent part of the training camp than splashing about in the pool – but Saka, Rice and their club colleagues will be thrown in at the deep end. England need them to swim rather than sink.
The win over New Zealand in Tampa Bay was a training exercise first and a football match second, but against Costa Rica there will probably be a slightly sharper focus on tactical discipline and finesse. Tuchel was somewhat unimpressed by Sunday’s performance, which he described as being too “freestyle,” and will want to see his side cut down on the long passes and stick to their positional tasks a little more tightly.
Rice, newly installed as vice-captain, is arguably second only to Harry Kane in terms of importance to England right now. His ability to drive play forward from midfield – and his pinpoint delivery from dead ball situations – is crucial to Tuchel’s attacking system, and if he cannot take the very literal heat then England will be at a disadvantage from the outset.
Saka, meanwhile, offers a degree of penetration from the right wing that none of his international colleagues can match. England need his ability to improvise, and need him to be up to full speed so that all those sharp, darting runs in between defenders can give them the capacity to break lines. If the temperature saps some of the pace from those quick feet, hardly an impossibility after a season bedevilled by fitness issues, it would be a worry.
Eze and Madueke are likely to play supporting roles at the World Cup but they too will probably get a chance to work on their fitness on Wednesday, and the directness that they offer from the bench could offer England a different dimension when they search for hard-to-find goals as the tournament wears on. The speed at which the Arsenal contingent can acclimatise will have a bearing on the outcome of England’s campaign to end those 60 years of hurt.
Rice and Saka could be key to an improved performance against Costa Rica
Ahead of what’s expected to be the hottest World Cup since 1994 – and a tournament which could end up being disrupted by extreme weather as El Niño brews over the Pacific – England’s squad may have been worked harder than ever. There has been more endurance training, more gruelling workouts, more sweat. Common knowledge suggests that England tend to wilt in the heat. In response, Tuchel and his coaching staff are toughening their charges up against the North American summer the hard way.
Hence the absence of the unicorns. No doubt there has been some horseplay at some point – Tuchel appears to have been keen to avoid completely dismantling the vibes-heavy regimen that Gareth Southgate successfully instituted – but the fun and games have largely been kept out of the public eye, with the only levity known to have taken place thus far being a round of golf with Brooks Koepka, which Elliot Anderson poetically described as being “mint.”
That aside, the appearance has been of an especially difficult but determined training camp in Florida. But we are reaching the stage at which football needs to be prioritised as much as fitness – and if Rice and Saka are able to get up to full speed quickly, that should be a much easier balance to strike.
Costa Rica, who missed out on a place in the World Cup after losing to Haiti in qualifying, should not pose too much of a problem on paper. This isn’t the same side which qualified from the 2014 group stage at England’s expense, but a less disciplined team that conceded three goals against Colombia last Tuesday, and shipped seven in March across two friendly matches against Iran and Jordan.
In short, their low block should not be the most difficult to break down. Saka and Rice should be able to carve out space and opportunities, should be able to influence proceedings as they need to in order for England to flourish against stiffer opposition in the group stages.
If they succeed – and with fitness still important the time they are given to do so many be limited – then England will have every cause for optimism ahead of next week’s opening match against Croatia. If they struggle and look sluggish in Orlando, a few jangling nerves may be justifiable.
Saka and Rice are no longer the thrilling young prospects who larked about with the inflatables at Euro 2020. They are now the stars, the senior pros, vital parts of Tuchel’s machine and utterly crucial to the way that England use possession and score goals. It is essential that they thrive, and taking a baking hot Florida afternoon in their stride would go a long way towards ensuring that they do.
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