Thomas Tuchel reverses England squad ban days before World Cup opener

Thomas Tuchel has decided to reverse a ban that would have impacted his entire England squad days before their opening World Cup group stage match against Croatia.

England completed their World Cup warm-up preparations on Wednesday night with a comfortable 3-0 win over Costa Rica.

Declan Rice opened the scoring on nine minutes in Orlando, Florida, before a second-half penalty from Anthony Gordon and an Ollie Watkins strike on 87 minutes added further gloss to the scoreline.

The match was due to get underway at 9pm UK time, but was delayed by an hour due to thunderstorms around the Inter&Co Stadium.

Tuchel admitted post-match that the delay was actually positive - because it effectively allowed a trial run for his squad ahead of dealing with possible weather issues during the World Cup itself.

England secured a dominant 3-0 win over Costa Rica in Orlando (Image: Getty)

That is just one of many factors to consider during the tournament, with England kicking off their Group L campaign against Croatia on June 17.

The Three Lions are based in Kansas City for the duration of their World Cup, and every detail has been meticulously planned by Tuchel and his coaching staff.

That includes their pre-tournament training camp in Florida, and it has been revealed that Tuchel reversed a ban imposed by former boss Gareth Southgate during previous World Cups.

The Sun report that the German has allowed the wives and girlfriends of players to visit the team hotel in Florida as they prepare to fly across to Kansas City.

Southgate did not allow that to happen ahead of the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, and Tuchel himself had considered continuing the ban before ultimately deciding on a change of approach.

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Several close family members of England players, including Harry Kane's wife Kate, are understood to have visited the hotel and have been spotted watching on during the Three Lions' warm-up fixtures.

It is claimed that Tuchel is planning to 'grant the squad some downtime' following the Costa Rica win, and is 'keen to afford his players further quality time with their partners and family' before their opening fixture.

When and where do England play at the World Cup?

England kick off their World Cup campaign in the US capital of Washington D.C., with their opening fixture taking place against Croatia in Seattle on June 17.

They then travel to Boston, Massachusetts to take on Ghana on June 23, before a trip to New Jersey to face Panama in their final group match on June 27.

England are based in Kansas City for the tournament, with all three of their group matches taking place in the US.

The Guardian reported last month that the FA are 'happy' with both the accommodation and training base in Kansas City, as well as the relatively short travel distance to matches.

Their training base was not the FA's first choice, though they could do little about that as it was chosen by Argentina, who were allowed to pick their base first out of all the nations due to being reigning world champions.