England are finally out of what they have been calling the “grind” part of the World Cup.That was the name given internally to the last week, an intense period which saw them having to fly from Kansas City to Atlanta to face the Democratic Republic of Congo; fly back; spend two nights back in Kansas City; and then fly to Mexico City to take on the co-hosts in the game of their lives.The internal approach for managing the longest World Cup that has ever been staged has been to break the tournament down into blocks. And this block — the last 32 and last 16 games — was seen as perhaps the most physically tiring given the short turnarounds and the travel involved.By the time England landed back in Kansas City on Monday morning, they were tired but satisfied in having completed this phase of their mission, with a place in the quarter-finals. And their focus immediately shifted to how to recover from their exertions in the Estadio Azteca. This week will be quieter. England do not play Norway until Saturday, meaning they have four days back in Kansas City before they have to depart for Miami.Monday was designated as a recovery day for players, which allowed the squad to get over the huge physical effort made after playing on Sunday night. The players looked utterly exhausted by the end of the Mexico game, many collapsing onto the pitch at the end, drained by the work they had put in to get England over the line. They had played around 45 minutes with 10 men after Jarell Quansah’s sending-off and were also having to deal with the challenge of playing at altitude. All tournament England have been talking about “pounding the rock”, the importance of keeping going, working away to keep trying to create chances, knowing that with enough patient persistence the rewards will come. England did not break down Panama until 62 minutes were gone. They did not score against DR Congo until 75. After that game, Kane used that “pounding the rock” phrase, but after defending deep and resolutely through the second half in Mexico, there was a twist: Tuchel told the players that this time they had been the rock.