England's World Cup WAGs Opt for Low Profile in Miami, Avoiding 2006 Echoes

The BBC is not the only World Cup institution to have stayed at home.

As England make final preparations for their opening game of the tournament against Croatia on Wednesday, only around half of Thomas Tuchel’s squad can look forward to being reunited with their families in Dallas, with many having opted to skip the group stage.

Complex travel logistics, the sheer length of the tournament and – for some of the extended families – cost are the factors cited by FA sources to explain the diminished travelling party, which is far smaller than in Qatar four years ago, when most of the families decamped to Dubai for December or hired rooms in cruise ships outside Doha.

More families are expected to travel to the US if England advance from Group H and make the latter stages, particularly those with school-age children.

The advanced party that travelled out shortly after the squad a fortnight ago have based themselves in Miami, taking advantage of the players’ downtime during their extended training camp in nearby Palm Beach to enjoy time together during their days off.

Rather than decamp en masse to Kansas City the majority have stayed in Florida to enjoy the sunshine and will fly in on matchdays to watch England’s group games in Kansas City, Boston and New York.

As was the case under his predecessor, Gareth Southgate, Tuchel is expected to permit the players to spend some time with their families in the stadium after matches, before they return to their camp at Swope Soccer Village. Unlike Southgate, however, Tuchel will not allow the players to meet them again the day after matches, as was the case in Qatar four years ago, which is another reason they will return to Florida.

Miami may be the party capital of the world, but early indications suggest there is little danger of a repeat of the scenes that overshadowed England’s World Cup campaign in Germany 20 years ago. The genteel spa town of Baden-Baden was transformed into paparazzi heaven by the antics of an unusually high-profile group of players’ partners that rather unfairly came to define the players’ wives and girlfriends (“Wags”) for the best part of a decade.

The stories of their nights out in Garibaldi’s bar and spectacular shopping trips have passed into legend and some of them may even be true. Led by Victoria Beckham and Cheryl Cole, with a future Coleen Rooney along for the ride, many appeared to enjoy the attention.

Bottles of Veuve Clicquot were reportedly drunk through straws, Beckham supposedly took 60 pairs of sunglasses and Frank Lampard’s then-girlfriend, Elen Rives, allegedly became involved in a slanging match with some German fans after leading a sing-song while dancing on a table.

Many of the rest of the group were also celebrities, including the models Abbey Clancy, Alex Curran and Carly Zucker, while manager Sven-Göran Eriksson’s then partner, Nancy Dell’Olio, was hardly shy and retiring.

In stark contrast, most of their successors 20 years on would not spark such interest on Miami’s South Beach and appear to prefer it that way. Harry Kane’s wife, Katie Goodland, has kept a relatively low profile throughout his career, something that is generally replicated throughout the squad.

Many of the partners also have successful careers of their own. Bukayo Saka’s girlfriend, Tolami Benson, works in advertising and Arsenal teammate Eberechi Eze is married to an intensive care nurse, Naima Corbin. Elliot Anderson’s girlfriend, works as a paralegal while Reece James’s partner, Mia-Florence McClenaghan, has just completed a law degree at Royal Holloway in London.

As a result the England party may not even be the most high-profile tour group in Miami. Fifa has invited the heads of all their 211 member associations to a two-day summit, with about 160 having accepted, and while the majority are anonymous men in suits, the likes of the Cameroon Football Federation president, Samuel Eto’o, are still capable of turning heads.