Jude Bellingham has received a significant boost from England manager Thomas Tuchel after being handed the coveted No 10 shirt for the national team's World Cup campaign. The Real Madrid midfielder will wear the iconic number ahead of rivals Morgan Rogers and Eberechi Eze, while Elliot Anderson, who made his England debut less than a year ago, secured the No 8 jersey.
England's World Cup preparations begin in Florida
Preparations for the tournament kicked off at a training camp in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday, with 21 of Tuchel's 26-man squad in attendance for a week-long camp. The squad numbers were confirmed on the same day, with Bellingham taking the No 10 shirt. The training session took place in temperatures reaching 33 degrees Celsius, as the players began their acclimatisation to the conditions they will face in the United States.
Mainoo confident of England's chances
Midfielder Kobbie Mainoo addressed the media after training and expressed the squad's belief in their ability to win the tournament. "One hundred per cent," the Manchester United player said when asked if the team could triumph in the 48-team competition, which begins next Thursday and runs until July 19. "I feel like everyone in the squad and the staff believes we can win it, but it doesn't come easy. The first game, the second game, we have to build and build."
Henderson emphasises standards and teamwork
Jordan Henderson, who at 35 is attending his fourth World Cup, spoke about the standards the squad aims to achieve by the time they open their campaign against Croatia on 17 June. "It's about bringing the best version of ourselves, individually and collectively, and working every day to achieve our dreams," he said. "We all know the talent this squad has and how we can hurt teams. But we know we have to be ready to do all the invisible work too."
On the challenging weather conditions, Henderson added: "It's hard to really adapt, but this week is about building capacity. We've got an amazing team behind the team working on how we cool down and recover. Hopefully that can give us an edge."
FA CEO acknowledges difficulty of winning outside Europe
Earlier, Football Association CEO Mark Bullingham admitted it would be "going to be hard" for England to bring home the trophy. "It's only twice in history that a European team has won a World Cup outside Europe," he told the Performance People podcast. "There's a reason for that. It's very hard to win in heat, altitude, humidity and so on. Other countries are better at dealing with that because they've grown up with it. So it is going to be hard, but we'll be doing everything we can to go as far as possible."
Late arrivals and additional training partners
Arsenal's Declan Rice, Noni Madueke, Eberechi Eze, and Bukayo Saka, along with Crystal Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson, will join the group late after participating in European finals last week. In the meantime, Tuchel has supplemented his squad numbers by including Liverpool's Rio Ngumoha, Fulham's Josh King, and Bournemouth's Alex Scott as part of the Florida training group.
