FA expresses concerns over England's World Cup training privacy

The Football Association (FA) was worried that England’s World Cup training ground in Kansas City lacked privacy and aimed to erect protective fences to guard against the team being spied on by rivals. The concern arose amid the spygate scandal, which resulted in Southampton being expelled from the Championship playoff final for illegally surveilling the training sessions of their opponents. The FA decided to take no chances when England arrived at their World Cup base on 13 June.

England's first choice of training ground had been Sporting Kansas City's performance centre; however, Argentina secured that option. Instead, the FA accepted the Swope Soccer Village, which was home to Sporting Kansas City's academy teams and located a 20-minute drive from the hotel where England would stay during the tournament. England was set to fly in and out of Kansas City for all of their matches, with the opener against Croatia scheduled for 17 June in Dallas.

The FA planned to add an outdoor gym and a players’ lounge to the Swope facility, but due to the open nature of the training ground, extra security measures needed to be in place. Coach Thomas Tuchel addressed whether the FA was taking measures to prevent spying from rivals, smiling and mimicking drawing back an arrow with an imaginary bow. "We will take care of that, of course," he said. "As good as possible and not in a crazy way."

Tuchel acknowledged that Argentina had the first option to choose a more secluded high-end facility in Kansas, but expressed satisfaction with the current training facility, highlighting the improvements made by the FA and management. "It suits all of our needs," he noted. However, he agreed that the training grounds could be overlooked.

"It’s crucial if you train on matchday minus-one, you do your team buildups, you do your set pieces, you finalize with penalties … you don’t want the opponent to know. It just gives you a crucial advantage. So we’re trying to be as private as possible."

England confirmed that Arsenal winger Ethan Nwaneri would travel to Florida as part of Tuchel’s training squad for the World Cup preparation camp, along with Bournemouth’s Alex Scott, Fulham midfielder Josh King, and Liverpool’s Rio Ngumoha. Brighton stopper Jason Steele was to remain with the squad as the training goalkeeper for the tournament's duration.