England have arrived at their home for the tournament – the luxurious Golfresort Weimarer Land – and have already acclimatised themselves ready for their Euro 2024 opener on Sunday
England have made themselves at home in their “unbelievable” training base – and are charming the locals in the process.
They have checked into their luxury Golfresort Weimarer Land resort where they will stay, train and entertain themselves for the duration of their tournament. But England’s players did an hour-long open training session on Tuesday at nearby FC Carl Zeiss Jena and it was Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane who got the loudest reception from the 500 watching fans.
Every national team is obliged to do an open session near to where they are training and England went through their paces in the afternoon sun. They had spent the morning doing publicity pictures, media duties and have acclimatised themselves ready for the tournament.
Even the most experienced Football Association staff say the training base they have ever seen and will help ensure England are ready for the challenge ahead. England forward Anthony Gordon said: “Basecamp is unbelievable. Honestly, I wish you could see it.
“We have everything we could ask for – basketball court, padel court, spa for recovery. We have absolutely everything and couldn’t have asked for anything better.
“It’s a great place to be because when you come away from home, away from family for so long – hopefully – you need that base and start to make it a home from home. We’ve definitely got that.”
Germany used England’s facilities for their last two warm-up friendlies but have now moved to the Adidas Football Centre in Munich while England got booked up before anyone else. Austria boss Ralf Rangnick, the former Manchester United caretaker boss, was furious that his team did not get it and counts it as his favourite golf course in the world.
The base is remote and about 35 minutes from the nearest city of Erfurt but they have embraced themselves into the local area. The roads were shut in Jena to allow the England team bus to arrive and then the players – with all 26 taking part in training – signed autographs afterwards.
Gordon said: “It’s so impressive. I knew a few people would be coming here but didn’t expect so many and they were quite good during training celebrating.” It is such a contrast to Baden Baden in 2006 when England’s World Cup campaign was overshadowed by the WAGs and it felt showbiz was more important than the football.
This time, England are focused and, while the past week has seen headlines about Harry Maguire and Jack Grealish being axed from the squad, the 26 are now in the zone. There is real competition for forward places and Gordon says he hopes he passed an audition in Friday’s friendly with Iceland despite the defeat at Wembley.
Gordon said: “I feel really good. It’s been a big day of travelling, obviously a lot of excitement getting on the plane and getting here and then the first session.
“I thought I did alright. I hadn’t touched the ball for four weeks so I felt a bit rusty especially around the final third. I did a couple of mistakes I wouldn’t normally do but it is better doing then rather than in a tournament.
“A few people have said it where the squad has never been so competitive in terms of everyone is in form and everyone has come here in a really good place. There is definitely competition for places. Everyone is going to be at their best to try and play.”
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