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 FA 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 that 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.
