England are set to take on Tunisia on Monday in their first Group G game on Monday and the Three Lions are currently based in Repino – a tiny island on the Gulf of Finland.
And if an exclusive report from INews is anything to go by then with just two days to go Gareth Southgate’s players cannot get a good night’s sleep.
But it’s not exactly the pre-match jitters that’s been keeping Harry Kane and Co awake at night though.
So what the reason then?
Well for starters, Repino is a place which is isolated from the major cities of Russia and there is constant daylight in the town.
The sun usually sets at 11:30 pm and then comes up again at 3 am. And even when the sun goes down there isn’t absolute darkness.
And this has been a major cause of concern for the English players.
Blackout blinds have been installed in every room of the Forrestmix Club – England’s hotel base. But the lingering daylight even at night is not letting the players get the stipulated rest that they need ahead of their first game.
The FA have done every possible thing in order to make their players comfortable like installing special mattresses in the players’ rooms and keeping family photos in order to make the players feel at home.
But none of these seems to be helping Southgate’s squad.
Another big problem that England might face leading up to their first game against Tunisia is the sudden temperature drop.
England play their games in Volgograd which is a significantly warmer place as compared to their current base in Repino.
England manager Gareth Southgate had purposely chosen the isolated island of Repino in order to stay away from the glares of the tournament but now it seems that their choice can come to bite them back.
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