Thomas Tuchel explains the importance of hotel windows to England’s World Cup preparation | OneFootball

Thomas Tuchel indicated he still has an "open door" policy with his England selection for the World Cup by recalling Ben White, but he also values "windows open".

That’s because the manager has demanded an "intimate" hotel base that will allow his players some freedom, which might not have been the case in a typical huge American chain with hundreds of bedrooms.

Tuchel especially mentioned "a hotel where you can open the window", which is one of the key reasons behind England’s decision to stay at their Kansas City base for as long as they're in the tournament. He wants his players to feel like they’re at home.

When it was put to Tuchel that the World Cup will involve a lot of internal travel, the former Chelsea boss explained how that will dictate his side staying in Kansas City longer.

"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 sleep in, to have a bed with a good mattress, to have a hotel with privacy, a small hotel, not a 400-, 500-, 800-bed hotel where we see each other maybe just in the elevators or in the floor between breakfast and meeting,” Tuchel explained.

“The air-conditioning is on and you cannot open the windows, so there are a lot of these hotels in America and 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, I think once we get used to that place, it makes sense to go back."

With England's first game - against Croatia - not coming until 17 June in Dallas, a full nine days after the tournament starts, Tuchel consulted his squad members on tournament preferences. England will travel to Kansas City around 13 June, after an initial pre-World Cup camp in Florida.

"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 go hopefully through the tournament,” Tuchel added.

“Looking at it for longer than just the players, I had the feeling that a day more could be quite useful, so, yeah, these are some decisions that had to be made, and maybe the headline is 'we try to be as often in Kansas as possible'."