England players spice up their diet in quest to win World Cup

by Chris Smyth - 20/05/2010

"Ten kilos of sushi rice, seaweed sheets and plenty of wasabi paste. This is not a shopping list one naturally associates with Wayne Rooney."

But the England football squad will be taking the Japanese ingredients to the World Cup in South Africa, alongside ten bottles of balsamic vinegar, 200 bars of organic chocolate and a supply of dried apricots.

There is not a meat pie in sight and the Football Association’s upmarket food order reveals how much the game has changed since England won the World Cup in 1966, when sausage, egg and chips were still on the menu.

For the half-time cuppa, it seems that England players will now be able to choose between herbal, peppermint, fruit, Earl Grey and jasmine teas.

While fresh meat, fruit and vegetables will all be bought in South Africa, many of the team’s favourite condiments and snacks are being brought from home. One hundred bottles of Tabasco and sweet chilli sauces will be heading to South Africa, along with supplies of English mustard and HP Sauce. Clearly, England are preparing for the tournament with fire in their bellies.

And although a curry hardly seems like ideal preparation for a semi-final against Brazil, The Times nutritionist Amanda Ursell said that a little piquancy could do the players good.

“Hot spices, mustard and sauces will bring a bit of the familiar to what may otherwise be unfamiliar ingredients and flavours in meals. There is nothing like a favourite condiment to get the gastric juices flowing and ensuring the team eat well,” she said.

Traditional English comfort foods such as strawberry jam, marmalade and 30 packs of custard will also be served up to soothe players in an unfamiliar environment, according to the shopping list put out by the supermarket Tesco, which is sponsoring the team.

“A spot of good old-fashioned custard provides some useful energy along with plenty of calcium to maintain strong bones and help to relieve tired muscles while the jams are perfect in sandwiches after finishing training sessions and games for a quick energy shot,” Ms Ursell said.

In days gone by, players prepared for big games with a plate of chips and a pint of bitter. Even in the early 1990s the Arsenal side would have pie-eating contests on the coach to away matches, their former player Paul Merson revealed recently, while Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle were rumoured to stop for a bulk order of fish and chips on the way home.

But in the mid-1990s, with the arrival of Arsène Wenger as Arsenal’s manager and many top European players in the Premier League, English football began taking diet seriously.

All the big teams now employ nutritionists to advise on meal plans. Leading players begin the day with cereals, eat pasta, noodles and other complex carbohydrates for main meals and after games top up with bananas, biscuits and other foods that release energy fast.

The England team, under their Italian manager Fabio Capello, have also asked for 50 bottles of extra virgin olive oil, risotto rice, pine nuts and Cardini Caesar salad dressing.

Ms Ursell said: “If players join him in this kind of fare they will benefit from ‘good’ fats in the oil and protein from the pine nuts. Dark chocolate will give the players antioxidants said to help hearts to stay healthy while being one of the most healthy and filling kind of sweet treats Capello could provide.”

Among the items being sent are:

40 bottles of traditional table sauces
200 bars of organic chocolate
10kg of sushi rice
90 packs of tea bags
266g of organic vegetable stock cubes
10 bottles of balsamic vinegar
50 bottles of extra virgin olive oil
100 bottles/tubes of hot sauces
30 packs of custard

Footballers and their food

A poor diet could be said to have knocked England out of the 1970 World Cup. The goalkeeper, Gordon Banks, then considered the best in the world, went down with a mysterious case of food poisoning on the way to the quarter-final against West Germany in Mexico. His replacement, Peter Bonetti, was criticised widely as England gave away a two-goal lead to lose 3-2

At the 2002 World Cup in Japan/Korea, England took a “secret weapon” — Jaffa Cakes, to boost energy levels after games. They lost to Brazil in the quarter-finals.

The heaviest man to play for England was William Henry Foulkes. Nicknamed “fatty”, the goalkeeper weighed about 22 stones during a career with Sheffield United and Chelsea at the turn of the 20th century.

When Wayne Rooney made his name in the Premier League as a teenager in 2002, Everton nutritionists were horrified to discover that his diet relied heavily on sausages, chips and baked beans.

After Arsène Wenger took over at Arsenal in 1996, he immediately banned steak, chips, fried foods and sugar, introducing his players to boiled vegetables. They won the league two years later But the Arsenal captain, Cesc Fàbregas, admitted recently that he enjoyed eating Krispy Kreme doughnuts on his day off.

More Details: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article7123420.ece