Ivan Toney hits hat-trick as England beat Sporting Kansas City 5-1

Ivan Toney did more than fill a training slot in Kansas City. In a behind-closed-doors practice match at Swope Soccer Village, the recalled Al Ahli striker scored a hat-trick as England beat Sporting Kansas City 5-1, with Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins also on target in a game designed to give minutes to fringe players and those lightly used in the 4-2 win over Croatia.

The format mattered almost as much as the scoreline. England had returned from Dallas at about 10.30pm local time on Wednesday, then used Thursday’s workout to spread game time across a group that included Jordan Henderson, Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi, Dan Burn, Kobbie Mainoo, Djed Spence and Jarell Quansah. The match itself was split into two halves of around 25 minutes, a useful reminder that this was a managed fitness exercise rather than a full competitive test.

Even so, the performances will not be ignored. Toney’s treble strengthens his case in a forward line where Harry Kane remains the clear first choice, but where Thomas Tuchel still needs reliable options behind him. Rogers’ contribution was equally notable. The Aston Villa attacker has been used in different roles and his goal will reinforce the idea that he can offer more than squad depth, while Watkins added another reminder of his established end-product.

The limits of reading too much into the result are obvious. Sporting Kansas City are an MLS side, not a World Cup opponent, and a short, behind-closed-doors fixture cannot fully measure how a player will handle the speed and pressure of the tournament. But England did arrange the game precisely because competitive minutes matter, and those minutes were used to help sort the pecking order before the group stage tightens.

That context makes Kansas City more than a stopover. England will be based in Missouri for the duration of the World Cup, with Swope Soccer Village identified as the preferred base in January 2025 and opened in 2007 as one of Sporting Kansas City’s training facilities. England arrived from West Palm Beach on 13 June and were greeted by around 700 people at their first session in warm 30C conditions, a welcome Dan Ashworth said was the best the staff had experienced at any World Cup.

The squad now turns to a far sterner examination. England face Ghana in Boston on Tuesday 23 June at 21:00 BST, before Panama in East Rutherford four days later. Kane and Tuchel spent Thursday evening at a Kansas City Royals and St Louis Cardinals baseball game, but the sharper questions remain on the football field, where Toney has just forced his way back into the conversation.