Thomas Tuchel insists England are ready for heat and humidity at World Cup

Many of the players were due to fly to Miami on Monday evening for a 10-day warm 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 arrive later and miss a friendly against New Zealand in Tampa on Saturday.

Palm Beach meet-up

The other 21 players, some of whom are 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 reunite the team in Florida with what we have already established, I saw a lot of quality," Tuchel told Sky Sports television.

"That instantly gave me full belief and excitement that we can go a long way."

Tuchel acknowledged that the heat would not be to England's advantage after a long and demanding club season.

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

"We know each player's individual reaction to the heat and we have cooling strategies in place. We have had help from Team GB and specialists from around the world to come up with solutions that help the players adapt.

"We know exactly the amount of time we want to expose them to in the pre-camp, the ideal amount of time that you should train in the sun and that we also do not do too much."

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 were not making excuses ahead of the tournament in the US, Canada and Mexico.

"It (the heat) is a factor, but it should not come across as though we are already making excuses," he said. "It is just not in our favour and it is an obstacle to overcome."