Much was made of the challenge England faced by playing Mexico at altitude in the Estadio Azteca. The greater concern might be the enormous cumulative distance the team have travelled at the World Cup. It is far greater than that of any of their rivals.
The Football Association chose to base England in Kansas City, even though the team were not scheduled to play any of their matches there. They reasoned that a central location would limit the length of flights the players had to take for any of their fixtures. But it has also ensured they have made round trips of at least 670 miles for every game, if we keep things simple by measuring straight lines between the cities of their base camp and match venues.
With trips to Foxborough, East Rutherford and Mexico City all clocking in at over 1,100 miles each way, England have travelled an approximate average of 1,842 miles across their first five games. That figure is roughly the same as flying from London to Lisbon and back, a perfectly reasonable trip for a footballer accustomed to playing European football with their club. The issue is that England’s average round trip is more than France have travelled in total, plus they have logged more than 3,000 miles more than have their next opponents, Norway.
The shortest return journey Thomas Tuchel’s men have completed was longer than any their French counterparts have undertaken. England have also played all five matches in different locations, with Miami Gardens the sixth when they face Norway there on Saturday. The Norwegians have approached the logistics of playing matches in multiple venues in a similar way to many of the teams still in the competition. They were based in one location (Greensboro, North Carolina) for the group stage, then moved from city to city for their knockout phase games.
Some teams have been rewarded for backing themselves to go deep into the tournament when opting where to reside between games. Belgium’s camp in Renton, Washington, is only around 10 miles from Seattle Stadium, in which they played their first two knockout matches. Argentina are based in Kansas City, with their opening game and quarter-final being played there. England will have been expecting to top their group, so could have plotted their routes accordingly. Basing themselves near, say, Atlanta would have seen them on hand for their last-32 match in the city and reduced their total travel in the group stage.
That is just an example, and far more goes into choosing a base camp than distance to matches. How much of a disadvantage it is to travel further than other sides is not easy to quantify either. But when England have had three round trips longer than France have travelled in total, this could be a factor if they stick around long enough to meet in the final.
