The Football Association (FA) is set to review a security breach after a man carrying a wrench accessed the media centre at England's World Cup training camp in Kansas City. The incident occurred on Thursday at the media centre located in a community building about half a mile from the training pitches at Swope Soccer Village.
Details of the Intrusion
Police were called to the media centre after the man, who appeared distressed, walked into the media room before any players or team staff arrived for their media duties. The man attempted to leave the premises after hearing nearby unrelated sirens but was ushered away and disarmed by security before later departing peacefully. The FA will now review the incident to prevent future occurrences.
At no point were players or coaches under threat, as only FA staff and journalists were present in the media centre at the time. The media centre is protected by security guards. Only Thomas Tuchel and Anthony Barry were scheduled to undertake media duties on the day of the intrusion.
Context and Impact
England are currently preparing for a World Cup quarter-final meeting with Norway, which will take place in Miami on Saturday evening. They will fly to Florida on Friday. The team faces several injury concerns: Jarrell Quansah is unavailable for the quarter-final after being sent off against Mexico and receiving a two-match ban, ruling him out until the final if England reach it. Reece James has been absent since England's second group stage match with a hamstring injury, Marc Guehi missed training this week with a similar injury, and Declan Rice is dealing with an illness.
Any prospective victory against Norway would set up a semi-final clash with either Argentina or Switzerland.
