When England were choosing their World Cup base camp, Kansas City was not their first choice. But, for one man, it was always the dream destination.
It was in 1966 when Lamar Hunt, the founder of the NFL team the Kansas City Chiefs, switched his television over to ABC and became transfixed by the spectacle of the World Cup final, won by England against West Germany. It proved the catalyst for Hunt becoming one of the pioneering figures in growing football in the United States. His ultimate dream was to bring the World Cup to Kansas City.
Hunt was distraught when KC was overlooked as a host city for the 1994 edition — the first World Cup in the US — but that proved inspiration for his son, Clark, to ensure it was involved in the next American World Cup. Today, it hosts Lionel Messi as Argentina’s campaign as defending champions begins against Algeria. Soon, England will be back and in recovery after their opener.
Kansas is the heart of America, and this is why England were so keen on it. Their base camp is the central organ that connects them from game to game but keeps them grounded in between.
A hub in the middle of the country minimises the number of time zones they cross each flight they take to or from a game. Argentina and the Netherlands are based there, too — and with better quality training facilities than England, because FIFA gave them priority due to both nations each having a game in Kansas. England don’t play there.
When England train in KC, it is hard to ignore the fact that the city’s Swope Soccer Village training ground was not top of the list. It is basic. Perfectly passable, but not state-of-the-art — usually occupied by the reserve and academy teams of the city’s MLS team, Sporting Kansas City. The FA took one look at the inbuilt gym… and then erected a marquee in which they built their own.
Still, England have appeared relaxed here, conducting light training on Saturday and training fully on Sunday and Monday ahead of flying out to Dallas on Tuesday. Players have enjoyed playing a football version of table tennis out in the open on the pitch, and families have set them each up with a digital photo gallery screen of loved ones and a box of personalised items, which the FA flew over from the UK and placed in each player’s room before they checked in.
Thankfully, they weren’t nicked, because plenty else was. The FA suffered a break-in to some of their vans carrying equipment from their pre-World Cup training camp in Florida to Kansas. Kansas Police had to investigate. Fortunately, nothing “game-critical” was stolen, and eventually most of it was recovered. This World Cup of unknowns is already throwing up rather novel challenges for England to overcome.
In keeping with the four tournaments during the reign of Tuchel’s predecessor, Sir Gareth Southgate, the FA have brought England billboards and branding with them and adorned their base camp and hotel with it. Though around 450 miles away from the nearest of England’s three group-stage venues, Swope Soccer Village has been given a makeover to very deliberately feel like a ‘home from home’.
Finding a hotel private enough for England proved a challenge, but a solution appeared in the form of the Inn at Meadowbrook in Prairie Village. Across the state line between Kansas and Missouri, it is a short distance from the home, in a gated community in Leawood, of Taylor Swift and her soon-to-be husband Travis Kelce, who plays as a tight end for the Chiefs.
England’s hotel is a small 54-room establishment, and hotel catering staff have been furloughed for the duration.
Each and every time the squad emerge from their hotel and take the 19-minute drive to training, they cross the state border from Kansas into Missouri. This is England's strange reality, but it is starting to feel like home.
