England World Cup squad embarks on 'great adventure'

Sunday 01 Jun 2014
England ahead of embarking for Miami

Roy Hodgson's England team bid a farewell to home soil on Sunday afternoon as they embarked on their World Cup adventure.

Following the 3-0 win over Peru on Friday, the players reconvened at the team hotel for the official squad photo before making their way to the airport.

The 23-man squad and standby players John Stones and Jon Flanagan boarded the flight bound for Miami on Sunday afternoon.

From the apron at Luton Airport Hodgson said: "It is going to be a great adventure. We are really excited about it, and we got the perfect send off on Friday where the crowd was magnificent. 

"We fly off in a very positive mood. We know we carry a lot of hopes and dreams with us and we are excited about our responsibilities. 

England will spend a week in Florida where they will play two final warm-up games against Ecuador and Honduras at the Sunlife Stadium. Then next Sunday, they head for Brazil as this summer's festival of football kicks off.

Hodgson said of the two warm-up fixtures: "We certainly don't want any injuries - when you see what happened [when Italy played Republic of Ireland] at Craven Cottage last night and seeing Riccardo Montolivo injured. 

"Above all it's a chance to get everyone on the field of play and get some minutes under their belt before we go to the tournament."

Be sure to follow the team behind the scenes with us here on TheFA.com, via Twitter @England and on the official England Team Facebook page.

By Jamie Bradbury FA Editor at Luton Airport