England head coach Thomas Tuchel recognised the heat would not be to England’s advantage after a long and ⁠demanding club season. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Heat and humidity will ‌be obstacles to overcome, but England has full belief in its abilities and can go far in FIFA World Cup 2026, manager ⁠Thomas Tuchel said on Monday.

Many of the players were due to fly to Miami on Monday evening for a 10-day hot-weather pre-tournament acclimatisation camp. Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, Declan ‌Rice, Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze have been given more time to recover after Saturday’s Champions League final loss to Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest and will delay their departure.

Crystal Palace’s Dean Henderson, ‌who ⁠helped the London club win the Conference League final last ⁠week, is also expected to be a later arrival and miss a friendly against New Zealand in Tampa on Saturday.

The other 21 players, some of them on holiday in ​the Americas and Caribbean, will meet ‌up in West Palm Beach.

“When I reconnected with the games and built our training sessions and meetings to reconnect the team in Florida with what we have built already, I saw a lot of quality. That instantly gave me the full belief and excitement ​that we can go a long way,” Tuchel ‌told Sky Sports television.

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Tuchel recognised the heat would not be to England’s advantage after a long and ⁠demanding club season.

“We are not used to being in this kind of heat and humidity, and even altitude if we play in Mexico. There will be ‌a lot of challenges in this World Cup. The heat is one of them, but we are prepared already,” he said.

“We know the individual reaction of the players to the heat, and we have cooling strategies in place. We’ve had help from Team GB and specialists all over the world to come up with solutions that help the players to adapt. We know exactly the amount ‌of time we want to expose them in pre-camp, the ideal amount of time that ​you should train in the sun, and that we also don’t do too much,” he added.

Scorching heat was a major concern at the ⁠June-July 2025 Club World Cup in the United States, with medical experts and players’ ⁠unions expressing concerns about heat stress, dehydration and slower recovery times.

Tuchel said England was not making excuses ahead of the tournament in ‌the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

“It (the heat) is a factor, but it should not come across that we are already making excuses. It’s just ​not in our favour, and it is an obstacle to overcome,” he said.

Published on Jun 01, 2026