Marcus Rashford Trains at Inter Miami Ahead of World Cup

Marcus Rashford took his World Cup preparations to the United States, linking up with Inter Miami's state-of-the-art facilities ahead of the tournament. The England international got a head start on his teammates by acclimatizing to the Florida heat following specific instructions from Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel.

Tuchel’s plan had called for his 26-man squad to holiday in American time zones before the tournament. Many players were understood to have spent the off-season in the States or Caribbean after Tuchel stressed the importance of acclimatizing to the conditions that will define the upcoming World Cup. Weather was expected to be a major factor in the tournament, with studies showing that nearly a quarter of all World Cup games were likely to be played in temperatures higher than 26C. By heading to Florida, Rashford ensured he was physically prepared for the humidity, with Miami serving as the backdrop for his intensive individual sessions.

Rashford flew into Florida and trained at David Beckham’s Inter Miami training complex with a private coach. The Barcelona winger shared a snap of his shooting practice, notably under the watchful eye of a coach dressed in Manchester United gear, suggesting he maintained close ties with his parent club despite his time away in Spain. Rashford had worked privately with United coach Colin Little since his breakthrough in 2016. Little, a former non-league striker, was now Darren Fletcher’s assistant for the Under-18s but had helped Rashford work on his finishing over the years.

While Rashford focused on his fitness, his club future remained a significant talking point. He spent the last season on loan at Barcelona, where sporting director Barcelona still tried to renegotiate Rashford’s £26m option to buy clause, despite splashing out £70m on former Newcastle winger Anthony Gordon. This financial hesitation reportedly put Arsenal on red alert, with Mikel Arteta keen to bolster his attacking options.

The majority of the England squad flew out to Miami on Monday for a pre-camp and two friendly matches against New Zealand and Costa Rica. England’s tournament training base was in Kansas City, Missouri, six hours behind UK time. Dallas, where Tuchel’s men faced Croatia in their opening group game on 17 June, was also six hours behind BST. The other Group L matches against Ghana and Panama, played in Boston and New Jersey respectively, were played in a time zone five hours behind the UK. European finalists Declan Rice, Noni Madueke, Eberechi Eze, and Bukayo Saka and keeper Dean Henderson would join the rest of the squad at a later date as the Three Lions finalized their preparations.