Over the same period, Mexico — the first team to qualify for the knockout stage — will travel just under 1,000km.Jenkinson categorised the potential impact of travel on the Socceroos, who are based on the US West Coast, in California's San Francisco Bay area, as "moderate".He has calculated the Socceroos will travel 4,815km over their three group stage games.Australia's opponent for their decisive third group stage match on Friday, Paraguay, has only had to travel 640 km since the tournament began, the second lowest of any squad behind co-hosts Mexico.Teams will also cross as many as three time zones for a single match, according to Jenkinson's research, which has been published in the Science and Medicine in Football journal.He admits while many footballers (including members of the Australian squad) are accustomed to travelling in Europe's top leagues, these distances are substantially shorter He said when the Socceroos qualified for the tournament in June 2025, wit provided much more time to prepare than a team like Iraq, which clinched the final spot at the World Cup in March this year."Australia had started doing detailed mapping and planning practice matches at times and locations to familiarise themselves with their demands," Duffield said."The other thing is, obviously the teams from federations with high budgets to spend on flights, travel and practice matches in locations to familiarise themselves better, [which] is also an advantage."He also believes the impacts of travel on athletes can vary based on team or individual circumstances."At some point, based on prior familiarity, current experience or match congestion, travel becomes an issue