Disney World helps get England defender Burn ready for the World Cup

Dan Burn credits a pre-tournament trip to Disney for helping him acclimatize to the heat ahead of the ride of his life at the World Cup.

The 34-year-old has enjoyed a fairytale rise having been pushing trollies at a supermarket and playing for semi-professional Darlington at the start of a career that now sees him star for boyhood club Newcastle.

Thomas Tuchel’s appointment as England boss added another special chapter to that story after handing the centre-back a maiden call-up in March 2025 and then making him part of his World Cup squad.

The travel, heat and humidity in North America could make the tournament somewhat of a roller-coaster but a family trip to Orlando’s Disney World helped him adapt to the conditions before their warm weather camp began in Florida last Monday.

Burn said of Saturday’s 1-0 friendly win against New Zealand in sweltering Tampa: “It doesn’t feel like the World Cup yet, but coming in and seeing the fans, the hype of it all and getting excited about it, so, yeah, I was happy with how it went.

“I think we dealt with the heat pretty well, got a win and a clean sheet. We can build on that.

“I didn’t notice (the heat) that much, if I am being honest. I have been here a week before, I did Disney with the kids because I wanted to get a bit of a head start.

“Honestly, I think that helped. Don’t get us wrong, it wasn’t like a Saturday afternoon in Newcastle, but I felt a lot better than I was expecting to.”

Burn loved his time with the family at Disney and was among several players to get a head-start by travelling to the US early.

“I wanted to do that because I am not used to the heat as much,” the towering defender said. “About half the squad did that and half the squad didn’t, but I feel better for it.”

England face Costa Rica in a final friendly in Orlando on Wednesday before their World Cup opener against Croatia on June 17 in Texas.