Argentina already lead England in World Cup after netting No1 coaching camp on the town
Argentina are already 1-0 up against England in the World Cup after netting the top training camp in town – while the Three Lions have been benched with the juniors.
Both nations will be based in Kansas City during the tournament which starts next month. But the world champions have nabbed the best training facilities – leaving Thomas Tuchel ’s team reduced to a complex used by academy wannabes.
Lionel Messi and his team mates will be based at the state-of-the-art Compass Minerals National Performance Center – home of MLS club Sporting Kansas City and described as the ‘Crown jewel of American soccer’.
Designed by local architects Populous – the team behind Tottenham Hotspur’s hi-tech London stadium – the 50-acre site boasts five full-sized pitches including two with all-weather surfaces. The sports performance lab has a neuropsychology office, hyperbaric recovery chambers, cryotherapy and massage suites and its own doctor’s surgery.
It boasts boot driers, hot and cold plunge pools, luxurious changing rooms…and a smoothie bar.
Meanwhile England’s base is the Swope Soccer Village – the training camp used by Sporting Kansas City’s academy players. The pitches are first class and constructed from the same Bermuda grass teams will play on during the tournament – and there is a golf course and zoo nearby.
But the building is a world away from the high-performance facilities of England’s St George’s Park HQ and modern club training grounds. The 26-strong Three Lions squad will struggle to cram into the meeting room.
While the Football Association took one look at the gym and decided to build a new one in a marquee outside. The city’s women’s team KC Current ditched the place for their own purpose-built complex which will be occupied by the Netherlands during the tournament.
Officials insisted Thomas Tuchel preferred the academy site to Argentina’s which he thought was ‘too big’. But he never had the choice. FIFA gave first refusal to teams playing in host cities.
England – whose group matches are in Dallas, Boston and New Jersey – found themselves behind Argentina, the Netherlands and Algeria in the pecking order, all of which have fixtures in Kansas. Matt Besler, a former Sporting KC player and US international who trained there and is now a host city ambassador, insisted: “It’s got everything you need and nothing that you don’t.”
But England must be wary of a Roy Keane-style revolt. The midfield legend flew home from the 2002 World Cup in Japan after clashing with Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy over conditions at the team’s training camp in Saipan which recently sparked a movie starring Steve Coogan.
Though England is not scheduled to play a match in Kansas Tuchel picked it as the team’s base because of its central location and reputation as one of America’s safest cities. The Three Lions will stay at the £400-a-night, 54-room The Inn at Meadowbrook for the tournament.
It is not far from the home pop superstar Taylor Swift shares with NFL star hubby-to-be Travis Kelce and Ted Lasso actor Jason Sudeikis’s old high school.
Some of the hotel staff will be reportedly furloughed for a month while the FA brings its own chefs and other specialists. The gym will be extended to house Vitaeris 320 hyperbaric chambers players will use to aid recovery between matches.
The FA has requested access to all the best local golf courses. England will make daily treks between two states – their hotel is in Kansas while the training ground is in neighbouring Missouri.
Licensing laws have been extended in both states for the tournament with boozing only banned between 5am and 6am. “If England win I guess the champagne will be flowing for at least 23 hours,” the source added
