With Brazil boasting an area seven times the size of South Africa, the 32 countries participating in the 2014 Fifa World Cup will have to endure many hours of gruelling travelling.
Top of the list is the USA, which not only faces a stiff test in Group G against Germany, Portugal and Ghana but must also criss-cross the northern portion of South America’s largest country to the tune of 5 600 km.
One of their games is at the Arena da Amazonia, Manaus a venue that is already being dubbed “The Amazon Forest’s Dumbo” due to the fact that this city hasn’t had a club in Serie A since 1986, and currently only play in the fourth tier.
Furthermore, besides the fact that the cities of Natal, Brasilia, the capital and Cuiabá are together with Manaus, all additional to the original eight that Fifa listed to host matches, they too have been without a top-flight team for the same period – raising further questions about more white elephants!
England, which fits into Brazil about 33 times, also play in Manaus but the interesting travel aspect of the group stages is that Belgium are set to cover the least distance (698 km), playing all their games in the south east cities of Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
Hosts, Brazil are also up against it with 4 062 km, well behind Croatia on 5 531.
