American soccer players will be piling up air miles — all in preparation for unprecedented travel.
Jet setters like never before, the No. 20 U.S. plays 13th-ranked Switzerland in an exhibition on Sunday at St. Gallen, then travels about 5,200 miles to face Honduras on Thursday at Denver in the CONCACAF Nations League semifinal. The Nations League final against Mexico or Costa Rica follows in Denver on June 6, followed by a friendly against Costa Rica at Sandy, Utah, on June 9.
U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter designed the schedule to prepare players for the grueling compacted World Cup qualifying schedule that starts in September, which has three matches crammed into FIFA match windows designed for two.
“This should definitely help us out about different situations of all different types of weather and obviously lots of traveling and different time zones,” forward Gio Reyna said Saturday. “So I think we’re all trying to take in as much as we can from the staff here in terms of the tips they have that can help us feel as little jet lag as possible.”
