Tuchel throws first pitch as England enjoy downtime

Thomas Tuchel threw the first pitch at the home of baseball team Kansas City Royals as his England squad enjoyed some downtime after winning their opening game at the World Cup.

Manager Tuchel was joined by captain Harry Kane and defenders Dan Burn and Djed Spence at Kauffman Stadium as he completed the ceremonial throw just over 24 hours after England beat Croatia 4-2 in Dallas.

Kane, who scored two goals in the win over Croatia, posted on social media about the trip.

“Great recovery day with the boys at the baseball,” he wrote.

“Would love to give batting a go one day! Thanks for having us @Royals.”

The Bayern Munich forward played the whole match against Croatia and did not take part in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Sporting KC which was for members of the squad who needed game time.

Ivan Toney and Morgan Rogers were among the scorers as England recorded a comprehensive 5-1 victory over the Major League Soccer side in a practice match on Thursday.

The game, played at England’s Swope Soccer Village training facility, featured the players not used in Wednesday’s win over Croatia and the squad members who did not play significant minutes in Dallas.

Toney scored a hat-trick while Aston Villa duo Rogers and Ollie Watkins were also on target as England ran out comfortable winners.

Burn, Jordan Henderson, Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi, Kobbie Mainoo, Djed Spence and Jarell Quansah were among the players also involved in the training game.

The game was broken up into two halves of around 25 minutes each.

BBC Sport revealed on Tuesday that the Football Association had arranged the friendly to get minutes into certain players’ legs.

Having arrived back from Dallas at around 10.30pm local time on Wednesday, England players were afforded most of Thursday off.

Players were allowed to see family and friends immediately after the Group L game against Croatia, and loved ones were given access into the camp on Thursday to spend time with the team before they start preparations for next Tuesday’s game against Ghana in Boston (21:00 BST).