--- title: World Cup 2018: England Trains With Rubber Chicken description: With just one day to go until England competes for a spot in the World Cup final, the team is trying out an interesting new training method. canonical: https://time.com/5334625/world-cup-2018-england-rubber-chicken/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-10T16:31:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:53:45.289Z og:title: England Trains for the World Cup With a Rubber Chicken og:description: Fowl play, indeed og:url: https://time.com/5334625/world-cup-2018-england-rubber-chicken/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc142fa0f5e8f83d9/6989350097cdff6dd06b5b28/england-harry-kane-rubber-chicken.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: England Training Session - 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: England Trains for the World Cup With a Rubber Chicken twitter:description: Fowl play, indeed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc142fa0f5e8f83d9/6989350097cdff6dd06b5b28/england-harry-kane-rubber-chicken.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # England Training for the World Cup Semi-Final With a Rubber Chicken Is Every Fan's Dream  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jul 10, 2018 4:31 PM UTC  Harry Kane of England catches a toy chicken during the England training session on July 10, 2018 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Harry Kane of England catches a toy chicken during the England training session on July 10, 2018 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jul 10, 2018 4:31 PM UTC With just one day to go until [England](http://time.com/5332548/uk-soccer-its-coming-home/) battles Croatia for a spot in the [2018 World Cup](http://time.com/5333146/neymar-challenge/) final, the English team is trying out an interesting new training method. Ahead of Tuesday’s [semi-final match between France and Belgium](http://time.com/money/5333495/watch-world-cup-2018-france-vs-belgium-online-free/), the English squad—including Golden boot frontrunner Harry Kane—was spotted tossing around a rubber chicken in preparation for their big Wednesday game. Fans, of course, were delighted to see the players getting along so well. “Actually love the atmosphere of this England team. Throwing around a rubber chicken as a training drill,” one England enthusiast wrote. “Even if it isn’t coming home, which it is, they’ve been an absolute delight to follow this campaign.” “Love how chilled the England squad is, playing with rubber chickens in training day before their biggest game in 28 years hahahaha class,” added another. > [](https://twitter.com/adaambaxter/status/1016627263486427136) > [](https://twitter.com/SamC1997/status/1016676440081948672) See some of the fowl footage below. > [](https://twitter.com/FIFAWorldCup/status/1016674399586484224) > [](https://twitter.com/elliotwagland/status/1016599094788280320) > [](https://twitter.com/England/status/1016605412517404672) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5334625/world-cup-2018-england-rubber-chicken/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5334625/world-cup-2018-england-rubber-chicken/"},"headline":"England Training for the World Cup Semi-Final With a Rubber Chicken Is Every Fan's Dream","datePublished":"2018-07-10T16:31:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:53:45.289Z","description":"Fowl play, indeed","url":"https://time.com/5334625/world-cup-2018-england-rubber-chicken/","keywords":["Newsfeed","World Cup 2018"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc142fa0f5e8f83d9/6989350097cdff6dd06b5b28/england-harry-kane-rubber-chicken.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc142fa0f5e8f83d9/6989350097cdff6dd06b5b28/england-harry-kane-rubber-chicken.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"England Training Session - 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia","caption":"England Training Session - 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia","creditText":"Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5334625/world-cup-2018-england-rubber-chicken/","name":"England Training for the World Cup Semi-Final With a Rubber Chicken Is Every Fan's Dream"}}]}] ```