Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express.
Brazil headache for England fans
ENGLAND could be faced with flying the length and breadth of Brazil and fans back at home forced to watch them at 2am if they reach the finals of the 2014 World Cup.
That was the potential nightmare scenario when FIFA unveiled the match schedule and kick-off times yesterday on the eve of Sepp Blatter’s eagerly awaited anti-corruption reforms.
FIFA have reneged on a promise to localise teams in specific areas to minimise travel and will instead repeat what happened in South Africa – with teams this time playing each group match in a different city, some up to 2,000 miles apart.
The group stages will see matches kicking off at either 1pm, 4pm, 7pm or 10pm – with Brazil between two and four hours ahead of GMT.