Mileage in the 2026 World Cup semis: France cruise, England drained

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Radio Gol

·14 July 2026

Mileage in the 2026 World Cup semis: France cruise, England drained

Rest and logistics are key in the final stretch of the 2026 World Cup. Lionel Scaloni made that clear when he said that, among the things he disliked about the tournament, Argentina was fortunate to travel little. “But that’s not because they helped us, huh! If we had finished second, we would’ve had to travel all over the place!” the coach clarified, stressing that the distances, time zones, and high temperatures wear squads down after more than a month of competition. Curiously, although all the semifinalists topped their groups, the reality of their itineraries is vastly different:

England (20,600 km): The team hit hardest, after traveling through two countries and eight cities. With its base camp in Kansas City — where, bizarrely, it did not play a single match — it had to travel to Dallas, Boston, New Jersey, Atlanta, Mexico City, and Miami. Before the trip to the Mexican capital, coach Thomas Tuchel complained about the physical disadvantage of competing at 2,240 meters above sea level. After the trip to Atlanta for the semifinals, it will be the team with the most kilometers covered.
Spain (14,200 km): Based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, it traveled to Atlanta (vs. Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia) and Guadalajara, Mexico (vs. Uruguay). In the knockout rounds, it crossed the U.S. from coast to coast: it returned to its base and then went to Los Angeles (vs. Austria), Dallas (vs. Portugal), and back to Los Angeles again (vs. Belgium). It will reach its total figure once it settles in Dallas for the semifinals.
Argentina (8,025 km): La Albiceleste split its logistics. It began in Kansas City, where it debuted against Algeria and made round trips to Dallas to face Austria and Jordan. After finishing top of the group, it moved to Miami to play against Cape Verde and used Inter Miami’s training ground as its base before going to Atlanta to face Egypt. It returned to Kansas City for the quarterfinals against Switzerland, and this Tuesday it will fly to Atlanta for the semifinal.
France (5,500 km): The clear beneficiary of the organization, traveling barely a quarter of what England did. From its camp in Waltham, Massachusetts, 25 minutes from Boston, it played the group stage in New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Boston, repeating exactly those venues and the same order in the round of 32, round of 16, and quarterfinals. Its longest trip will only come now, when it travels to Dallas to play the semifinals against Spain.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.