England stars Dan Burn and Harry Kane, along with reserve goalkeeper Jason Steele, attended an Ella Langley concert during some downtime at the World Cup. Burn swapped his football boots for cowboy boots and a Stetson for the country music gig.
A source said of the popular defender: "Dan was hard to miss in a Stetson. He was about 7ft tall." Country music star Langley has a hit "Choosin' Texas" which is No. 2 on Spotify USA.
Day Off After Victory
England were given a day off to see their wives and children after celebrating a stunning 4-2 victory over Croatia. Burn said the Dallas stadium was probably the best he had ever played in, and the scenes with the fans at the end were unforgettable.
"Singing Wonderwall with the fans was an amazing moment for me," he said. "I think that is the best stadium that I have ever played in. It was not just for me, I knew that my family was watching and going through that experience at the same time as me. It was such a good performance, a big win against a good team in Croatia."
Downtime Activities
Asked about downtime with the team, Burn added: "We did the baseball the other night, had a friends and family day on Friday and my wife and children flew in from Dallas. Then last night we went to see Ella Langley. I like country music, so I put on the cowboy hat and boots. Hopefully there are no photographs knocking about. I bought the hats and boots yesterday. I got kitted out, I thought if you are going to do it, then do it properly. So it was a good night and today it was back to the football."
"Harry and Jason Steele (the goalkeeping coach) got to meet Ella before the gig as well. I turned up a little bit later, so I didn't get to see her. We had to be back by curfew, which meant missing the best two or three songs. We have a record player. Harry put some country and western on so he wanted to come along."
Family Time
Manager Thomas Tuchel allowed his squad to meet their families after the Croatia game and again on Friday. Burn joked about missing Father's Day: "My kids are aged seven and five, so they are more gutted that they did not go to school. Not being around the kids for Father's Day will be strange but what an experience for them. They see all these cities in the States and see all these teams play, they will get a lot more out of that than they will from school and look back on that when they get older."
Honest Manager
Burn was in relaxed mood at the camp, telling how Tuchel often 'took the mickey' out of him and told him when he was picked for the squad that he would not be a starter. He said that he admired the honesty of the manager and all the coaching staff including assistant manager Anthony Barry, who gave a candid assessment of the team's performance on ITV during the half-time break against Croatia. "He has high standards like all the coaching staff in what he expects from us," said Burn. "You know, when you play for England, that you have to be at your very best."
