England team hit by theft of boots and balls before World Cup opener

England have suffered a theft of training equipment ahead of their arrival to their World Cup training base in Kansas City, with items that include the team’s match boots and official tournament balls stolen on Friday.

Local police are investigating the incident, which came as team staff were in transit from their pre-tournament base in Florida to the Swope Soccer Village in Missouri, where the England players were due to arrive on Saturday. Police confirmed two individuals have been apprehended while the investigation continues.

“We are investigating a possible theft of equipment from a team vehicle that arrived in Kansas City with items missing this evening,” police said. “The investigation is ongoing. Two subjects of interest were taken into custody pending further investigation.”

Vehicles transferring the training equipment were broken into, according to reports, while the players travelled separately. The items of training equipment were sent ahead of the arrival of the players on Saturday.

England were due to have their first full day of training in Kansas City on Sunday as they build up to their their opening match of the tournament against Croatia in Dallas in Wednesday.

Missouri proved to be a popular base for several World Cup teams. World Cup holders Argentina, as well as the Netherlands and Algeria, are also staying in the Kansas City area during the duration of the tournament.

Thomas Tuchel’s team have played two warm-up friendlies so far in the United States, against New Zealand and Costa Rica in Florida as they attempted to acclimatise . The team also organised a behind-closed-doors match against a local team in Florida on Thursday.

Tuchel played a strong team against Costa Rica in Orlando, with Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice all playing in the 3-0 win on Wednesday, in a match that was delayed by an hour due to heavy rain in the area.

Ivan Toney then scored a hat-trick as England continued their warm-up for the World Cup by beating local side Miami United FC 6-0 in a behind-closed-doors match, with Jordan Henderson, Rio Ngumoha and Ethan Nwaneri also on target.

Neither Ngumoha or Nwaneri are part of England’s final 26-man squad and were set to fly home before Tuchel’s squad travelled to Kansas City and arrived at the World Cup training base.