England will face Croatia in their opener on June 17 in either Toronto or Texas, then Ghana on June 23 in Toronto or Boston, and finally Panama in New York or Philadelphia. A report by FIFPRO, the global representative organisation for professional footballers, listed six host cities as posing an “extremely high risk” of heat stress for players, and England have avoided all of those venues — at least for the group stage. The heat will still be an almighty challenge, and was always going to be.
