England stars swapped football boots for cowboy boots as they enjoyed the vibe of Kansas over the Father’s Day weekend.
Jude Bellingham took his influencer girlfriend and his parents out for lunch, while Dan Burn and captain Harry Kane went to a Western concert.
Burn said he dressed in new cowboy boots, a Stetson and jeans for the Ella Langley country music gig.
The Three Lions were given a day off on Friday to see their wives and children after celebrating their brilliant 4-2 opening World Cup victory over Croatia.
Then, on Sunday, the fathers among the squad opened presents and cards prepared by their children.
Burn said: ‘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.’
Asked about ‘downtime’ with the team, he 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.’
Jude Bellingham treated his girlfriend and parents to lunch at Clay and Fire, a Middle Eastern restaurant in Kansas City
When in the USA…Three Lions captain Harry Kane played baseball during an England training session at their Kansas base on Saturday
Declan Rice showed off his muscles as he pulled on a mitt to take a turn as a catcher during a baseball match at the England training camp
England star striker Bellingham took girlfriend Ashlyn Castro and his divorced parents Mark and Denise Bellingham to trendy Clay and Fire, a Middle East restaurant in Kansas City.
The owner, Adam Jones, told the Daily Mail: ‘I had no idea who he was but some Brazilian customers in at the time recognised him and were very excited about it.
‘They told me he was a famous footballer, and they were very nice when I did go up and introduced myself as the owner.
‘I told him to come back, and Jude said he’d enjoyed his meal and said he would bring the lads as he was going to be in Kansas a while.’
Video footage shared with the Daily Mail shows Jude sat next to Ashlyn as they both scroll on their phones while chatting.
Burn said: ‘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.’
Asked about ‘downtime’ with the team, he 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.’
Jude Bellingham met the owner of the restaurant, Adam Jones
The England star posed for photos with the owner and friends
Ashlyn Castro posed for a photo with a young fan at the restaurant
Earlier Bellingham was spotted at a Kansas City entertainment complex called Top Golf while team mates Ivan Toney, Ezri Konsa, Trevoh Chalobah, and Djed Spence were all seen enjoying a padel match.
Wives, children and girlfriends were allowed to join the Three Lions after boss Thomas Tuchel gave them permission to spend time with their loved ones after their heroic efforts.
Many went for a walk in the park opposite their £250 a night hotel in Kansas, Missouri, the boutique Inn at Meadowbrook while those with children went to a nearby kids park.
The WAGs flew into Kansas from Dallas where they had spent two nights before flying to Kansas and those who went included goalkeeper Jordan Pickford’s wife Megan and their two children.
Megan has had a nightmare start to her World Cup experience after her luggage was lost en route and had to borrow a pair of jeans to wear to last Wednesday’s match.
The day with the families was also especially poignant for Megan and children Arlo, seven, Ostrava, three and one year old daughter Misty as it was her wedding anniversary.
She and Everton goalkeeper Jordan tied the knot in 2022 and old romantic Jordan sent her 36 pink and red roses which she posted in her Instagram page with the caption ‘Anniversary morning.’
In his hand written note Jordan said: ‘Happy Anniversary to my soulmate and the love of my life. Love you Jords xxx.’
A source said: ‘The gaffer said they deserved the time off and so the families were invited to the hotel to be with their players.
‘It was the chance to spend some quality time which is important for mindset and the first real chance they had to spend some quality time together since leaving pre tournament camp.
‘They did see their families after the Croatia game but it was in the stands and over very quickly.
‘Some of those with kids went to a local theme park while others stayed in and around the hotel, the key thing was just to be together and it was great to see.’
Bukayo Saka’s partner Tolami Benson posted a picture of an airplane window on Friday morning and then later another image from a car window which was captioned ‘Kansas City, Missouri.’
She also uploaded an image of a country and western concert she had gone to in Dallas before flying to Missouri.
Dan Burn’s wife Roz and their two children were part of the reunion as was Ollie Watkins wife Ellie and their children and the whole group are thought to have had a bonding dinner – as they did in Miami – before leaving.
Harry Kane’s wife Kate and children are thought to have returned to Germany after she posted an image from a plane window and captioned it ‘Munich’.
She also uploaded pictures of herself enjoying a rodeo in Dallas and she was captured on the rodeo cam and Harry replied with a red heart and St George flag emoji.
The WAGS are expected to return to their Miami base later on Saturday before flying up to Boston for England’s next match against Ghana.
This current set of WAGS are a far cry from the original ones twenty years ago who were synonymous with the 2006 tournament in Germany for their partying and shopping.
Back then there were £500 a night bar bills and £70,000 shopping sprees and it left pundit Rio Ferdinand famously fuming as he branded them a ‘circus’ while Gary Neville was ‘f***ing fuming’.
Led by Sir David Beckham’s wife Victoria, the group included Cheryl Tweedy, then Ashley Cole’s wife, Peter Crouch’s partner Abby Clancy and of course the late manager Sven Goran Ericksson’s partner fiery Italian lawyer Nancy Dell’Olio.
But this current generation are far more lower key and are more likely to be seen posting fashion and make up tips as part of their social media influencer profiles.
Only half of the Three Lions families are in Miami – which is 1,400 miles away – with the rest planning to join once the group stages are over at the end of the month.
They were not allowed to spend the night at the team hotel and instead were in a five star spa establishment elsewhere in Kansas City.
Tuchel is said to be relaxed about family time but the long travel distances – 5640 miles just for the group games – the equivalent of flying to South Africa and the tight schedules will make meeting up difficult.
Former boss Gareth Southgate generally allowed his players to meet after matches and again the following day.
