Kansas City wasn't England's first choice as a World Cup base. It didn't even have the best training facilities on offer. And someone broke into their vans. Yet here they are — and the city's connection to this tournament runs deeper than most people realise.
It starts with Lamar Hunt, founder of the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs, who watched England beat West Germany in the 1966 World Cup final on ABC and became consumed by the sport. He spent decades trying to drag football into the American mainstream, and his ultimate ambition was to bring the World Cup to Kansas City. He was devastated when KC was left off the host list for 1994. His son Clark carried the mission forward, and now — finally — the city has its World Cup moment.
A base camp that required some DIY
The reality on the ground is a touch less romantic. England are training at Swope Soccer Village, a facility normally used by the reserve and academy sides of MLS outfit Sporting Kansas City. It's functional. It's not cutting edge. The FA took one look at the gym, decided it wasn't up to scratch, and built their own inside a marquee erected on-site.
Argentina and the Netherlands, both of whom actually play games in Kansas City, were handed priority access to superior facilities by FIFA. England don't have a group-stage match there. They're just using it as a logistical hub — and logistically, it makes sense. A central base minimises time zone disruption as they travel to games across the country. The geography is doing the heavy lifting that the infrastructure can't.
The FA have done what they always do: plastered the place with England branding, set up personalised room displays for each player, flew over boxes of personal items from back home. The hotel — a 54-room spot in Prairie Village called the Inn at Meadowbrook — is small enough to keep the squad contained, with catering staff furloughed for the duration to maintain privacy.
The break-in nobody's talking about
Less charming: the theft. Vans carrying equipment from England's pre-tournament camp in Florida to Kansas were broken into. Kansas Police investigated. Most items were eventually recovered, and the FA confirmed nothing "game-critical" went missing — but it's a peculiar footnote to a campaign that hasn't even properly started yet.
The hotel sits a short drive from the gated Leawood community where Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce live, which will inevitably generate more column inches than the training ground situation. England, meanwhile, trained lightly on Saturday, fully on Sunday and Monday, and flew out to Dallas on Tuesday ahead of their next fixture.
Swope Soccer Village won't be remembered as a landmark World Cup base. But Lamar Hunt, who spent the last years of his life fighting for this city to host the tournament, might have appreciated England choosing it anyway.
