So the countdown to the World Cup has begun, which will begin on Thursday, June 11, 2026 in Mexico City. el tri Take South AfricaWith just six months to go, final preparations for the tournament have now begun following last Friday’s draw,
In addition to strategy and on-the-field plans, teams now have to consider the off-the-field logistics of the long trip that will run through three North American host countries: United States of America, CanadaAnd MexicoConsidering that participants will have to travel hundreds, if not thousands, of miles, arranging and planning the trip is no straightforward task,
In a sport that often focuses on finding and exploiting marginal advantages that can sometimes make or break your quest to win a championship, and in which the best players in the world play for clubs from smaller European countries, there is a lot to take into account for each team ready to do battle in North America next summer.
Luckily for those who are outlining their North American plans, there are past lessons learned by clubs across the continent who know a lot about navigating those well-worn paths.
In the last 2022 edition QueueNational teams traverse a country smaller in square miles than Connecticut, but when they reach North America next summer, it’s safe to say they might need to move around just a little more.
The 2026 World Cup group-stage journey at a glance
• Of the three host nations for next summer’s World Cup, Mexico has traveled the most comfortably to its three group stage games against South Korea, South Africa and a playoff qualifier from UEFA (Denmark, North Macedonia, Czechia or Republic of Ireland), while Canada has traveled the longest to face Qatar, Switzerland and a playoff qualifier from UEFA (Italy, Northern Ireland, Wales or Bosnia-Herzegovina). Is a qualifier. The U.S. will travel between Seattle and Los Angeles for their group matches against Paraguay, Australia and the UEFA playoff qualifiers (Turkey, Romania, Slovakia or Kosova).
• Some of those hoping to win it all in North America next summer will face vastly different travel experiences. Holders Argentina will face little logistical difficulty during their games in Dallas and Kansas City, while 2022 runners-up France will also face a generous schedule to keep them in the north-east for the duration of Group I. Biggest defeat? England, who will be in Massachusetts and Texas for their games against Croatia, Ghana and Panama.
• For obvious reasons given the host nation’s smaller size, the three-nation 2026 World Cup offers more complex travel arrangements than Qatar 2022, but it may be a lighter load than Brazil 2014, in which teams traveled an average of more than 2,000 miles during the group stage.
side effects of long journey
Some people do postgraduate work in medicine; Others dive into philosophy or chemistry. san diego fc“My PhD is investigating the impact of travel in North American football,” says Luke Jenkinson, Head of Human Performance.
Jenkinson, author of a review paper titled “Crossing Time Zones and Touch Lines” for the Journal of Sports Sciences, immediately noticed what can happen after such a long excursion. Like the normal rhythm of a 90-minute game, the individual patterns of good players are disrupted by travel fatigue, which can alter their circadian rhythm. Sleep disruption is an obvious negative consequence – any frequent flyer can tell you this – but it can also change how players can metabolize food.
“There’s a potential increase with digestive discomfort, which is a significant one, because it’s uncomfortable and it’s not pleasant,” said Jenkinson, who helped San Diego FC achieve MLS’s best away record this season. “If we have gastrointestinal distress, that can significantly impact the absorption of those nutrients and especially those carbohydrates, and then also from a hydration perspective.”
Tired, lacking vital nutrients and perhaps irritable due to “digestive distress”, it’s no surprise what happens to teams that don’t properly mitigate these issues.
“You see it a lot of times. There’s a lot of muscle injuries and lack of recovery during all those trips,” said John Polley, head of physical preparation for the 2025 MLS Cup finalists. vancouver whitecaps,
These long trips are not meant to be completely quiet either; Flight time recovery time is also valuable.
,[We] Make sure we get up and moving, not just sitting in the seats the whole time,” said Pacific FC coach James Merriman, who has to travel an astonishing 5,574 miles during his farthest game in the Canadian Premier League (to face the HFX Wanderers in Halifax, Nova Scotia). “Make sure the players are up, staying a little active and getting movement, stretching. It’s bad, it’s hard, it’s hard. But you have to move on from this.”
Another potential pitfall the national teams may face next year – especially when required to cross more than one or two time zones during the scorching heat – is that it is unpredictable.
“I would say the biggest mistake … more than anything, is that teams really move on too quickly sometimes,” Polley said. “Some teams will travel two days in advance and they’re trying to replace players. Game time may come, and the player’s circadian rhythm is completely messed up.”
Keeping all this in mind, what can be done? As for host countries such as the United States, Canada and Mexico, they will not travel as much as their other competitors. America and Mexico will also remain in the same region.
Additional 1% to 2%: lack of mattresses, pancakes, spicy foods
Think about a typical flight. After drinking too many beverages on the way to your vacation, you’re greeted by the most notorious enemy of anyone going on vacation: an uncomfortable hotel bed.
For Mathias JorgensenA denmark international for LA Galaxy For those who participated in the 2018 World Cup, this was not a problem a few years ago.
“There are so many things that go into it to get that extra 1% or 2%. Denmark did a little partnership with a brand called Tempur – we were traveling with special mattresses so wherever we went, we had our mattresses,” the 35-year-old defender said. “If the players wish, they will be transferred to every hotel where we stayed.”
Similar long distance talks were being held for the World Cup to be held in Russia in 2018. Despite the fact that Denmark traveled 3,852 miles in the group stage – including their base camp at the Sheraton Moscow Sheremetyevo Hotel – Jorgensen highlighted his federation’s attention to detail that helped them qualify for the knockout round, where he subsequently scored a goal in a 2–0 win over Denmark.
“With nutrition, with sleep, with everything,” Jorgensen said. “All the little things and getting [it] Correct.”
Regarding nutrition, part of San Diego FC’s “fuel and load” strategy is to prepare four meals from the night before an away match until kickoff on game day. To avoid any stomach problems, these meals include limited amounts of spicy flavorings – although hot sauce is available. A variety of food options complement the global roster of MLS clubs, and there are variations for a variety of tastes, but there is one prematch secret weapon that helps those who need extra energy after a long trip.
“In England, we would have a lot of American-style pancakes as a prematch meal,” Jenkinson said. “It’s a very easy way to consume highly palatable carbohydrate levels.”
As with pancakes for San Diego, morning team walks before matches are used to increase alertness before kickoff, and depending on the flight, the club may have a dimmed cabin or fully lit aircraft for comfort in an effort to prevent its players from falling asleep early.
With the increase in MLS using chartered flights – some national teams will have next summer – there is a flexibility available to organizations that can turn planes into mobile locker rooms.
“We’re lucky, obviously, that we don’t fly on commercial flights,” said Polley, who painted a picture of a cabin full of Normatech compression boots, electrical stimulators, massagers and stretching players. Unlike the CPL, or MLS in the days of 2013 MLS Cup winner Benny Feilhaber, private planes are a different world to those who can use them.
“Sitting in the middle seat on a Southwest flight is a little different than a charter flight,” joked Feilhaber.
mental game
Logically, there is a lot more that goes into preparing for a World Cup or club football, when you consider the small army of coaches, support staff, administrators, communications team members and others who will guide the players.
FIFA, trying to ease some of those logistical headaches, has divided the competition into West, Central and East zones, ensuring that 103 of the tournament’s 104 matches will have three days’ rest for teams.
According to FIFA, no national team will be required to fly from coast to coast in the group stage. The base camp selection is also expected to be announced by January.
That said, when discussing travel, the unpredictable changes that come with scorching temperatures or thunderstorms in the next summer season cannot be ignored. Flight cancellations, delays — Feilhaber once shared a story of being stuck at an airport for six extra hours — are par for the course in North America.
One possible last resort to overcome this beyond mattresses or chartered planes? Whether it was through experience in the more modest CPL, or in the World Cup, a key factor that stood out was the right state of mind.
“I think it’s most important [thing] It’s the mentality. … Try not to make a big deal out of it,” Pacific FC’s Merriman said. “If you see players dragging themselves through it, or making comments about it, things like that, you’ll definitely feel the travel, you’ll feel the time difference, all those things.”
Jorgensen stressed in a message to those heading out next summer that this is an opportunity to take advantage.
“It’s a blessing to be lucky enough to travel to different countries,” he said. “Recovery is as much mental as it is physical.
“Come out there with a great mentality, you do your work, you stay hydrated, you make sure you’ve done everything you have, and then you’re smiling and enjoying being a part of the biggest tournament in the world, the biggest sporting event in the world.”
We’ll see who keeps smiling after covering thousands of miles next year.
