DAN BURN says England first heard about their kit being nicked through the media – but insists their preparations have not been affected by it.
Boots, balls and equipment were transporting the items from England’s warm-up camp in Florida to their World Cup base in Kansas City this week.
Dan Burn insists England’s equipment heist has not impacted their preparations Credit: PA
None of the defender’s possessions were taken Credit: Getty
All the nabbed stuff – which did not include any elite performance equipment or any custom-made boots, rather spare footwear – .
Thomas Tuchel’s squad seemed completely unfazed as they in front of 300 or so fans for the first time at Swope Soccer Village – the Kansas City facility they will be using throughout the tournament – late on Saturday afternoon.
Asked if he had lost any of his own possessions in the theft, Newcastle defender Burn told reporters: “No, not personally. We heard it from you guys, to be honest.
“Obviously it’s with the police, so I don’t know how much I can comment on it.
“But I’ve got everything I need to train so I’m not too worried about it.
“To be honest, it’s not really been spoken about (by the FA) so I think that shows for us that they’re not too worried about it as well.
“We’re here to train, the first day out here, so it’s not disrupted our preparation.”
The 34-year-old added: “As a group we’ve not really spoken about that at all.
“I don’t think it was as big as it was made out to be.”
Burn was among the 27-man squad – Tuchel’s full complement, plus training goalie Jason Steele – to train in front of local fans.
The kids watching on were delighted to catch a glimpse of their heroes, especially captain Harry Kane and Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham.
Bellingham revealed earlier this week that he felt England at Euro 2024, claiming he did not feel “the group connected as well as it could have done for a number of reasons”.
It was a startling observation, given Gareth Southgate’s side made it all to the way to the final of that tournament.
But the current regime led by have put togetherness front and centre of their bid to go all the way in North America, speaking regularly of the need for “a brotherhood” in the squad.
Burn agreed that having a close-knit group is usually the best way to success.
He said: “We’ve made a big thing about that since the very first camp we had together, about having this brotherhood and being together.
“I feel like a lot of the time the team that end up winning tournaments like these are the teams who are close.
“If you look at Argentina at the last , you felt as if they were really fighting for each other.
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“That’s what we’re wanting to do. I think it’s hard sometimes, you don’t see each other for a long amount of time and you have quite superficial conversations. It’s normally just like, ‘hi, how are you’.
“But it’s about trying to get to know each other on a deeper level. So, what the staff have created at the hotel should help along with that.
“There’s people that we’ve played together with before which always helps so just keep trying to build on that.”
Burn is one of a number in the who is unlikely to get much game-time throughout the tournament, with John Stones, Ezri Konsa and Marc Guehi ahead of him in the centre-back pecking order.
The Toon star is OK with that and is ready to play a supporting role in whichever way he can.
He added: “I just want to be here and help the team however possible that is, whether I start, whether I come on, whether I don’t play a minute, I’ll not feel I have contributed any less than anyone else.
“I think that’s important. I feel like this is the type of tournament where we have players who are the stars for their clubs normally and they’re going to have to take a little bit of a different role.
“That’s leaning into that brotherhood thing again where we are just happy for each other and happy to help out as much as we can.”
England kick off their tournament on Wednesday in Dallas.
Burn observed: “On paper it’s definitely our toughest game.
Burn is behind John Stones, Ezri Konsa and Marc Guehi in the pecking order Credit: Getty
The Newcastle centre-back loves the togetherness built by Thomas Tuchel Credit: PA
“It’s been quite relaxed up to this point with the friendlies that we’ve had but now it’s business time.
“You’ve got to be (on it straight away). You don’t want to be looking over your shoulder for all the group games. You want to start it well.
“For us, we want to stamp our authority in this World Cup as well and start well.
“I feel like we’ve been slowly building, you’ve seen the performances, in my opinion, have been good coming up to this. Now it’s about laying that marker down for the rest of the world to see.”
Burn was speaking to a range of reporters, including some locals who quizzed him on his love of American sports and the NFL side Pittsburgh Steelers.
One local journalist put it to the ex-Wigan man that in the 1960s, a young group of talented guys called the Beatles came to the USA and conquered the hearts of all US citizens.
Asked what the plan was for the England squad 60 years later, Burn replied: “Much of the same, but I don’t know if I can be as smooth as The Beatles!
“Listen, we’ll try. We are here to play exciting, entertaining football and hopefully you’ll see that next Wednesday.”
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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