Roy Hodgson’s “Jungle fear” might have been slightly overstated by the British media this week but he can be forgiven for suggesting he is as wary of the venues England are drawn to play in this afternoon as he is of the other teams.
Even the strongest of the European contenders will make the journey to Brazil next summer wary of the challenges that lie in store and aware that no team from this side of the Atlantic has won the competition on that side of it.
Seven times now the World Cup has been staged in North or South America and seven times it has been won by teams from the south. The travel used to be a bigger part of it. When the event was held for the very first time, back in 1930, in Uruguay (or Montevideo to be more precise for all the games took place in the city) three European sides travelled together aboard the one ship, swinging by Brazil to pick their side up en route. The journey took nearly two weeks.
This time, several teams from this part of the world are expected to stop off in the United States to play lucrative friendlies en route so there may be almost as long between farewell games back at home and touchdown in Brazil. But it is in the host nation itself that the real challenges lie with heat, humidity and huge amounts of internal travel to be endured.
South Africa had three venues in or around Johannesburg but a jaunt down to, say, Cape Town, involved a journey of around 780 miles. That sort of trip will be run of the mill in Brazil where, when team bases get taken into account, the amount of travel required may be really gruelling.
The USA, for instance, will be based in Sao Paulo, and could face anything up 8,800 miles on buses and planes if things go badly this afternoon. Just one return trip to Manaus, though, where the average June temperature (outside the stadium) is 26.4 degrees but daily highs routinely run in the low thirties, and humidity is expected to be 99 per cent, will cover almost 3,500 miles.
The South Americans will not be immune to the discomfort but they may find some aspects of it more tolerable than, say, the Danes with even the altitude of some venues – around half are in the 750 to 1,150 metres up range – potentially taking a toll on tired teams more used to playing at sea level.
Good chance
"I believe that we have a very good national team," observed former West Germany striker Karl Heinz Rummenigge when asked about his nation's prospects recently, "and I think that we have a very good chance in Brazil but it's not easy to play there for Europeans.
“I remember in Mexico playing the final at 12 noon (for European TV, which will again be a major consideration) in 40 degree heat 2,200 metres above sea level. It was very difficult but we did it and the game was quite good . . . .”
Argentina beat them 3-2 but the Germans had their revenge four years later when the two sides met to decide the title again, this time in Rome.
Defending champions Spain will lead the challenge this time around as they seek what would be their fourth consecutive major title success. The hosts, as they underlined at the Confederations Cup this summer, will be the most likely South American winners.
Same squad
The Germans will travel with the guts of the same squad they brought to South Africa then Poland where, on each occasion, they came up short. With another two years under their belts, their hope is that they will have come of age.
The mixed background of the squad has won Joachim Loew’s side new followers amongst the neutrals with the group appearing to be a model of integration.
Belgium and Switzerland are also likely to send groups that are at least as mixed in terms of ethnicity and origin.
The Belgian squad is drawn from a remarkable collection of backgrounds with many of its members – Kevin Mirallas (Spain), Christian Benteke (Congo), Romelu Lukaku (Congo), Marouane Fellaini (Morocco), Moussa Dembele (Mali), Nacer Chadli (Morocco), Vincent Kompany (Congo), Sebastien Pocognoli (Italy), Radja Nainggolan (Indonesia) – either the sons of immigrants or born abroad themselves.
The Swiss, meanwhile, have several up-and-coming stars who were either born in the Balkans or whose families fled the war there. Xherdan Shaqiri was a young Albanian refugee from Kosovo, Valon Behrami was born in Titova Mitrovic, Mario Gavranovic’s parents are Bosnian Croats and Admir Mehmedi arrived from Gostivar, Macedonia at the age of two. Others in the squad have strong associations with Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Spain, Turkey and Chile.
None of which is entirely new. Two of the Uruguayan side that won the cup back in 1930 – Lorenzo Fernandez and Pedro Cea were actually born in Spain while the skipper, Jose Nasazzi was the son of Spanish and Italian immigrants and Jose Andrade’s mother was an Argentine while his father was believed to be an African, brought as a slave to Brazil from where he escaped.
Hodgson might tell his story to the players, or the press, when they start complaining.
