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There's an awful lot of football to be played before England fans start giving any thought whatsoever to the World Cup final. The Three Lions are in the last 16 of World Cup 2026 but there are obstacles galore in their path.
If the sheer number of knock-out rounds remaining and a high degree of opposition difficulty weren't enough, England must now contend with a kick-off change at short notice and brutally shortened preparation time for a Mexico game that already had its challenges .
But as England's World Cup quest crosses the USA-Mexico border for the first time, just how far might Thomas Tuchel and his squad have to travel in search of glory this summer?
What is England's World Cup 2026 mileage?
Without being stowed in what we assume to be Dan Burn's substantial luggage alongside his oversized cowboy clobber, mapping out England's meandering across the United States and Mexico is an inexact science.
To keep the calculation simple, setting aside any pretence at figuring out the real routes taken by road and air between cities and focusing instead on the straight-line distances is the way to go.
So, from the moment England left the runway at Birmingham Airport to their theoretical return a day or two after the World Cup final at New York New Jersey Stadium on Sunday, July 19, how far can England expect to travel?
To recap, England's travelling party first headed for Florida for a pair of warm-up matches against New Zealand in Tampa Bay and Costa Rica in Orlando.
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They were based in West Palm Beach for those games but the distance calculation has left that alone along with the fact that not everyone in the England squad even travelled from Birmingham.
From Florida, England relocated to their World Cup base in Kansas City and proceeded to travel in and out of Arlington, where they played Croatia at Dallas Stadium , and Foxborough, where Boston Stadium hosted their middle group game against Ghana .
The last group fixture against Panama was played at New York New Jersey Stadium, where the final will be played.
4355
4355
4433
1050
5483
462
5945
462
6407
1239
7646
1239
8885
1090
9975
1090
11065
676
11741
676
12417
1387
13804
1387
15191
1244
16435
1244
17679
676
18355
676
19031
1090
20121
1090
21211
4256
25467
From there, it was back to Kansas City, in and out of Atlanta to play DR Congo in the round of 32, and then into Mexico City, where England will play Mexico at Mexico City Stadium .
What happens next, Tuchel and a nation hope, is a return to Florida for a last-eight match against Brazil or Norway at Miami Stadium . After that it's a semi-final in Atlanta and the final in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
By the time England are back on home soil with the FIFA World Cup Trophy in hand, they will have travelled somewhere in the region of 25,500 miles . It will have been worth it.
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