-myKhel Team

Thomas Tuchel says England aim to turn Kansas City into a familiar base this summer as the squad chase World Cup success. The head coach plans a calm, settled environment, while the team handle long trips across the United States, Canada and Mexico during the largest World Cup staged by FIFA.

England enter the tournament listed among the favourites and are drawn in Group L with Panama, Ghana and Croatia. Tuchel sees the campaign as a logistical test, with travel, recovery and team spirit expected to influence results as much as tactics or individual form during the group stage and beyond.

Tuchel wants England to stay in one main location instead of moving hotels between matches, mirroring the approach used at Euro 2024 in Germany near Weimar. Asked about remaining in Kansas City for the full event, Tuchel replied: “We’re trying to. We’re trying to because, basically, that was the choice, to have a home, to have a home base, to have a bed that you’re used to sleeping in, to have a bed with a good mattress, to have a hotel with privacy, a small hotel. Not a500, 800-bed hotel where we see each other, maybe just in the lifts or on the floor between breakfast and meeting, air-conditioning is on and you cannot open the windows. There are a lot of these hotelsand I think that makes a difference, so we chose a hotel where you can open the window, we chose a hotel where it’s an intimate and small place.”

England’s camp in Kansas City is chosen to feel personal rather than corporate, with fewer rooms and more privacy. Tuchel believes familiar surroundings, fresh air and quieter spaces can support recovery. The staff hope repeated returns to the same base can help the squad manage the strain of constant flights.

At Euro 2024, England covered just over 3,500 miles on the road to the final in Berlin. That figure should be passed before the end of this World Cup group phase, with group fixtures set in Dallas, Boston and New Jersey. Tuchel expects the team’s travel schedule to be far more demanding.

Tuchel said the players support a compact tournament rhythm. “I have feedback from the players that they like that we start late, that they like that it then becomes condensed, so you have no chance to get bored once you hopefully go through the tournament.” The staff adjusted planning after those conversations with the squad.

The team will first meet in Florida at the beginning of June for a training camp. Warm-up matches against New Zealand and Costa Rica are planned there before the squad fly to Kansas City. England then wait until 17 June for their opening World Cup fixture against Croatia in Arlington.

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The second group match against Ghana in Massachusetts on 23 June tightens the schedule further, especially with the final Group L game against Panama in New Jersey still to come. Tuchel said: “I have feedback from the players that they like when we start late, that they like that it then becomes condensed,” underlining the preference for fewer long gaps.

Tuchel expects the later start to compress the calendar if England progress. “Hopefully, the longer we will get, the more demanding it will become. And it will become very condensed. There will be a lot of flights. There will be a lot of time at airports. There will be a lot of time together. We have to get our chemistry right. This is the most important.” Tuchel also summed up the strategy by saying “maybe the headline is ‘We try to be as often in Kansas as possible.'”

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