Sao Paulo: Most of the 32 nations coming to the World Cup in Brazil have picked training bases near Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, with only a few venturing into the much hotter northeast or the colder south.
With games to be played in 12 cities across the country, the majority of squads decided to stay near the major centers in the southeast, simplifying travel plans.
FIFA and the local World Cup organizing committee said Friday that 15 teams will be in Sao Paulo state, including France, Mexico and the United States. Four will be in Rio de Janeiro state -- Brazil, England, Italy and the Netherlands.
South American teams Argentina, Chile and Uruguay will be in or near the city of Belo Horizonte in the state of Minas Gerais, also in the southeast region, which is hosting 24 nations.
Five teams will be in the tropical heat of the northeast, including three-time champion Germany, Switzerland and Croatia. Defending world champion Spain will be one of the nations in the colder south during the winter World Cup months of June and July. Spain picked a site in Curitiba, a city which is in danger of being dropped from the tournament because of delays in stadium construction.
"It's an important moment," said Frederico Nantes, an official with the local World Cup organizing committee. "From now on everything feels a little more real. Now that we know exactly where each team will stay and train, we can start to plan in detail issues such as security, transport, logistics and other matters."
The committee said the process of evaluating the training centers began late in 2011 and finished last May, with more than 400 locations inspected across the country. Teams made their choices among 83 sites previously selected by the committee.
The cities of Rio de Janeiro, Vitoria, Campinas and Itu are the only ones to each host two national teams. Rio is one of the four host cities to accommodate teams, along with Belo Horizonte, Curitiba and Sao Paulo.
