England's World Cup success could hinge on two unlikely ingredients – scrambled eggs and rice pudding.
Former Three Lions personal chef Tim De’ath lifts the lid on how our footie aces are fuelled at tournaments by bespoke meal plans and crucial shipped-in home comforts. Those are the foods captain Harry Kane and fellow goal ace Raheem Sterling like to dine on before a game, De’ath reveals.
Tim, 53, said: “Harry is so good with his diet and is pretty old school.
"Pre-match he always liked scrambled eggs on toast. Raheem Sterling would always come up and say, ‘have you got any rice pudding?’ I used to make it with semi-skimmed milk not cream, but try and make it taste as nice as possible.
“If there was a chance to win a World Cup, it’s this one. Gareth Southgate is the best in the business at getting a team to come together at a tournament and food plays a huge part in that. A football army marches on its stomach.”
England’s heroes arrived at £150-a-night Souq Al Wakra Hotel – a 23-minute drive from the Khalifa Stadium where they meet Iran next week - on Tuesday. They’ll stay there for more than five weeks if they make the final on December 18.
Today Tim, who was the FA’s head chef for 11 years spanning five major tournaments and revolutionised the way our stars ate while with England, said: “I wouldn’t say life at a World Cup is like a prison camp but you’re locked away and you’re away from the outside world in a bubble.
“It’s what you make it inside the camp – if the camp’s not right, it will impact how they perform on the pitch. Gareth Southgate will try to make it a home away from home for players and staff.
"They are likely to have mattresses and duvets like the ones they enjoy at home. As head chef I went out probably eight or nine days before the team.
"They’ll have done the same this time I expect. When I got out there, the food would already be there so I would start to pack it away and put it in a locked container.
“We would often upgrade the hotel’s ovens or appliances to meet our needs. I would start to teach the chefs, who like to add cream and butter, who we liked things cooked.
"The meat and fish the players will eat in Qatar will be from a pre-approved and tested local suppliers. We’d take over Malden sea salts, ground black peppers, spices that I can trust and ship home comforts like custard, Jaffa Cakes, Haribos to boost the mood.”
Unlike World Cups from decades ago, there will be no booze culture in this camp. He said: “If there is a win, and there wasn’t another for five days, the players might have one beer or one glass of wine. But the majority of players wouldn’t. They might have a sip and not even finish them.”
But one thing they will be taking very seriously in Qatar is the threat of players getting food poisoning.
Tim said: “The threat of food poisoning is always there. There will always be someone in the kitchen to monitor and to make sure nothing was being tampered with and hygiene is at a top level. FIFA will come and randomly take food samples during the tournament.
"They will take samples of all dishes, bag it and freeze it, and if there was a problem they could take it out and test it. They would just turn up when they wanted to.”
Players are also likely to be banned from eating at local souks or supermarkets. Tim, who worked with Gareth Southgate for three games before retiring in 2017, said the England boss revolutionised how the team’s World Cup bubble functions.
He said: “Gareth is a genius at getting everyone together. When I first started at England in 2006. There would be a table of Chelsea players, a table for Arsenal, a table of Liverpool players and they would always keep to themselves. But we changed that by putting one large table out for the players so it encouraged them to interact.
“We dressed the tables properly like a fine dining restaurant with flowers.
"We had a philosophy of no music and no phones. All the phones were taken off them on their way in which I think was a good thing because it makes people interact." If anything like previous tournaments, Tim says the players will “live for their food” and will have a daily menu posted through their doors first thing in the morning.
Under his guidance, there were 35 different salads, a live pasta station, a stir-fry and grilled chicken section - and a fresh smoothie section. A BBQ is set up outside.
Tim said: “Meal times are all about keeping people interested. We had BBQs post games and the dining room changed into a trattoria for Italian night. We would have themed menu night and I’d get the staff to dress up. We would get local dancers in for cultural nights. I would imagine they’ll do sometime similar.
“Players would come up to me asking for requests. Raheem was big for making requests. On a down day we would do a healthy jerk chicken, rice and peas for them. We used to do things like cook offs. Danny Welbeck once lost one to Glen Johnson and was not happy.”
Tim, who retired in 2017, added: “The fact the current players can stay in one hotel could help them to do really well. Gareth is such a great tournament manager that I think this year could be our time.”
