The Three Lions have six days between Wednesday's Group L opener against Croatia and their second match versus Ghana in Boston and manager Thomas Tuchel decided to put that time to good use.
Tuchel organised the private friendly at the Swope Soccer Village base camp less than 24 hours after the win over Croatia as he aimed to hand players who didn’t get enough minutes time on the pitch.
England played two 25-minute matches against two separate KC sides as players built fitness and sharpness ahead of the Ghana clash on Tuesday night.
Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins bagged goals during the clash, whilst Toney secured a hat trick in what was reportedly a very impressive performance from the striker who is playing second fiddle to captain Harry Kane.
Kane explained the choice to play the clash, which will only give Tuchel selection headaches, especially after Toney’s performance:
"It was great. Great for the guys who didn’t get enough minutes yesterday to top up the tank. It was a good test. Thanks to Sporting for doing the game. They held themselves to a great standard. They got a nice free-kick goal themselves.
“Obviously from a football point of view, we knew it would be a game to score a few goals which we did. But they put a good test in and we got out of it exactly what we needed."
The Three Lions also played USL Championship side Miami FC in an informal friendly last week, playing two halves of 25 minutes each and winning 6-0.