Stolen Equipment Recovered Before England's World Cup Start
Thomas Tuchel's England team is set to begin their World Cup campaign on Wednesday.
England have successfully recovered most of the training equipment that was stolen prior to their arrival in Kansas City on Saturday.
Sources confirmed that the items taken after vehicles transporting equipment to their Swope Soccer Village base in Kansas City were broken into have now been returned.
Thomas Tuchel and his squad are scheduled to arrive in Kansas City on Saturday afternoon, with the equipment originally planned to be in place before their arrival.
Police officers, coordinating with the Football Association (FA), were present on-site Friday night addressing the incident.
It is understood that two arrests have been made in connection with the theft.
A spokesman for Kansas Police stated prior to the recovery:
"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 took place as Tuchel's side commenced preparations for their World Cup opener against Croatia on Wednesday at 21:00 BST.
Former England defender Phil Jagielka explained the significance of the stolen items to :
"We have plenty of pairs of boots throughout the season, but for the tournament a lot of them will have them personalised,"he said.
"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 are scheduled to undertake their first full training session on Sunday.
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