England stars issued stark warning ahead of World Cup warm-up against New Zealand as Thomas Tuchel dilemma emerges

England’s players have been told by an expert to avoid doing a potentially dangerous thing before World Cup matches.

England’s World Cup preparations get underway on June 6, with Thomas Tuchel’s side set to take on New Zealand in a warm-up match at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, before facing Costa Rica at the Inter&Co Stadium, also in Florida, on June 10.

However, their World Cup campaign will see them cross various time zones, with England’s opener against Croatia taking place at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on June 17.

The Three Lions then face Ghana at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on June 23 before finishing the group stage against Panama at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on June 27.

The team will be based at the Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City throughout their time in the US.

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Both Kansas and Texas use Central Daylight Time (CDT), while Massachusetts and New Jersey are one hour ahead on Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

Of course, the 26-man squad have also had to adapt to US time zones following their journey from the UK, which currently uses British Summer Time (BST) – six hours ahead of CDT and five hours ahead of EDT.

England players issued World Cup warning

This has prompted sleep expert James Wilson to advise the England squad against being tempted to use sleeping pills to cope with the demands of travelling across several time zones.

He told The Sun: “Based on talking to players, both in the men’s and women’s game, I just hope people aren’t taking sleeping pills.

“Sleeping pills don’t give you recovery sleep. What you’re getting is sedation – it knocks you out.

“They are not generally good for your sleep and are not good for recovery, so that is why they are not a good idea in football.

“The fact they are addictive is the cherry on the cake in saying why we should not be using sleeping pills, especially as a first line of defence.

“Four hours of poor sleep on the night after a game without sleeping pills is better than eight hours with most sleeping pills.”

A number of footballers have previously been open about their sleeping pill addictions, with former England international Dele Alli suggesting they are widely used by players.

During an interview with Gary Neville’s Overlap in 2023, Alli, who spent six weeks in rehab for a sleeping pill addiction, said: “I got addicted to sleeping tablets. It’s probably a problem that not only I have, it’s something that’s going on more than people realise in football.

“I definitely abused them too much. I would stop sometimes, go a few months without them, but it was really bad at some points. I didn’t understand how bad it was.

“I was taking a lot. I don’t want to talk about numbers, but it was definitely way too much. There were some scary moments. I wasn’t taking them to sleep, I’d take them throughout the day, sometimes from 11am if I had the day off. I would never take them if I was playing, but just to escape from reality.”