After World Cup loss, England players got sweet welcome back to Prairie Village
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- England returned to the Inn at Meadowbrook in Prairie Village.
- Fans greeted Team England at the hotel after their 2-1 semifinal loss to Argentina.
- England will face France in Miami on Saturday for the World Cup bronze medal.
As the World Cup progressed into the Round of 16 in the knockout stage, we knew just one of the four teams that made a base camp had a chance of advancing to the championship game.
It was Argentina, which defeated England 2-1 on Wednesday afternoon in Atlanta in a semifinal match.
England flew back to Kansas City after the loss, landing shortly before 9 p.m., then the team took the bus back to the Inn at Meadowbrook in Prairie Village. This had been the home away from home for the “Three Lions” and they will lick their wounds before preparing for their next match.
FIFA has continued the tradition of a third-place match, and sp England will face France on Saturday in Miami for the World Cup bronze medal.
That means at least one more practice at Swope Soccer Village.
After arriving at the Inn at Meadowbrook, Team England was greeted by fans who did their best to make the players feel better. Instagram user claire.elizabeth8 shared video of the players departing the plane and heading into their hotel, and you can hear the words of support from people who had gathered to greet them.
“Tough defeat but you have a lot to be proud of Team England!!” she wrote on the text overlay of the video. “It was a joy to welcome the team back to their Meadowbrook home! We love you!!”
And in the message with the video, she wrote: “I’ll never forget the summer when Team England was my neighbor. 🫶🏼🏴⚽️”
England will be the last of those four teams with a World Cup base camp in Kansas City to exit.
Argentina, which trained at the Compass Minerals National Performance Center, left Monday after a nearly six-week stay. Algeria, which trained at Rock Chalk Park in Lawrence, departed ahead of its knockout match against Switzerland.
The Netherlands, which had been using the Current’s facilities, went home two days after losing to Morocco in their Round-of-32 match.
Argentina will play Spain on Sunday in the World Cup final as it tries to repeat as champions. The team also hopes to win one last title for star Lionel Messi and earn a fourth World Cup championship.
It would also mean a Kansas City base camp team is the World Cup champion, which would be a cool moment for soccer fans here.
