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England have chalked up two wins from two games as they put the final touches to their World Cup preparations.
The 1-0 win over New Zealand last Saturday was followed by a 3-0 defeat of Costa Rica on Wednesday… but there was another match that enabled Thomas Tuchel to fine-tune his squad for next week’s Group L opener against Croatia.
On Thursday, England took on Miami FC to wrap up their West Palm Beach training camp. The U.S. club play in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer league pyramid, where they sit seventh in the Eastern Conference, 12 points behind leaders Tampa Bay Rowdies.
No media or fans were allowed into watch, but The Athletic has learned what happened — and the impression England’s players and staff left on their opponents.
What format was the game and what happened?
The match was split into two 25-minute halves (it was initially planned for the game to be split into three 22-minute periods, but that was changed before kick-off), with both sides making wholesale changes at the break, and was then followed by an impromptu penalty shootout between the two teams at the end of the friendly.
England won the game 6-0, scoring once in the first period and five in the second, with Ivan Toney netting a hat-trick (one goal in the first half, two in the second).
Miami’s Mathieu Ndongo did hit the crossbar in the second half but this was mainly about getting the players who had not featured against Costa Rica some game time in a semi-competitive setting. Miami, too, made 11 changes for the second half of the game given they had their own match looming against Oakland Roots on Saturday.
How did Tuchel approach it?
The notion that Miami would have to do as they were asked by England — whether that meant playing in a certain formation or a particular style of football — was quickly dismissed by Tuchel in a conversation with the USL side’s coaching staff, led by Gaston Maddoni.
“We were looking forward to this game for weeks,” Victor Lonchuk, Miami’s assistant coach who also performs the same role for Puerto Rico’s national team, told The Athletic. “We watched Costa Rica against England and we said: ‘OK, I think that we can do this’, so even planning for that game is fantastic.
“The whole situation was different and it was fantastic. At the beginning of the game, he (Tuchel) said: ‘Play in any shape you guys want with any game model. We just want to see what we can do against you’. In my experiences (of playing friendlies against elite sides), that was not the case, so right away you see a different approach to the game.”
Although Tuchel did not directly address Miami’s players, something Lonchuk viewed as a sign of respect, there was one thing he did that caught the eye of others.
“At the end of the game, he was fantastic,” the 39-year-old continued. “He was picking up towels and bottles that were left on the field.”
Who impressed for England?
Nobody was drawing too many definitive conclusions from what was ultimately a training exercise, but Lonchuk was struck by Jordan Henderson’s professionalism.
“He was fantastic,” he said. “He was super aggressive — not in a way that he is going to hurt people but in getting close to our players, with intensity. It was impressive to see that kind of player with that career doing that in a friendly game.”
Lonchuk also highlighted the performances of Tino Livramento and Toney, who is competing with Ollie Watkins as the backup to captain Harry Kane.
“If I have to pick who impressed me the most, it was Toney,” Lonchuk added. “We did play with plenty of centre-backs to control the box but the guy not only pushed away our defender, but also created some space for him with the right timing. Class.”
Although it wasn’t planned, England and Miami took part in a penalty shootout after the friendly.
“They told us last second and said we want to do 10 penalties, but we ended up doing five,” Lonchuk added.
As you might expect, the assistant coach would not reveal how they went, nor were any Miami FC staff able to record the shootout or take notes.
“The penalty shootout was more important for us than for them,” Lonchuk says. “There is a level of tension that a friendly provides that is not always equal to our training sessions and they were not able to do the same penalty. That was important information for us.”
Were any first-team starters there?
He may not have played, but Jude Bellingham left a positive impression on Lonchuk.
The Real Madrid midfielder watched the exercise from the sidelines and posed for photographs with the Miami players afterwards.
Victor Lonchuk with Jude Bellingham (Victor Lonchuk)
“It’s not like we were chasing the players for a jersey,” Lonchuk said. “We were super respectful, but if you ask me who got the most pictures with our players, it was Bellingham for sure!”
What did Miami gain from the experience?
“We could actually see in first person and compare players that we think are top in their positions in our league against elite players. You can see the difference in many ways,” Lonchuk said.
“Their decision-making and execution is more in sync, so they need less time to actually do any actions. So, by the time that you think that you can do something, it’s already too late and that’s the main thing. It is not so much in the one-v-one situations.
“Yes, some of them are faster than our players, some of them are stronger than our players, but the reality is that there are many things that you can do to compensate.
“But it’s impossible to compete when someone makes decisions much quicker than what you are usually expecting them to.”