By Bonface Mulyungi
England have recovered the majority of the training equipment that was stolen prior to their arrival in Kansas City on Saturday.
Sources have confirmed the return of the items that were taken after vehicles transferring equipment to their Swope Soccer Village base in Kansas City were broken into.
Thomas Tuchel and his squad will arrive in Kansas City on Saturday afternoon and the equipment was due to be in place beforehand.
Footwear was among the items stolen but that did not include any elite boots and nothing game-critical was taken.
Police officers, who are in touch with the FA, were on site on Friday night dealing with the matter.
It is understood two arrests have been made in connection with the incident.
A spokesman for Kansas Police said before the recovery of the equipment: “We are investigating a possible theft of equipment from a team vehicle that arrived in Kansas City with items missing this evening. The investigation is ongoing.”
The theft occurred as Tuchel’s side began their preparations for their World Cup opener against Croatia on Wednesday (21:00 BST).
“We have plenty of pairs of boots throughout the season, but for the tournament a lot of them will have them personalised,” former England defender Phil Jagielka told BBC Sport.
“A lot of them may have their own special insoles. Then you could choose whether to have the flag, your initials, your kids’ [names], nicknames… All this would have been done months in advance.”
The England players will undertake their first full training day on Sunday.
