Mamelodi Sundowns’ FIFA Club World Cup will put them through heavy domestic mileage in the USA in pursuit of coming out alive from their group after an encouraging start on Wednesday.
Since their arrival in the USA on June 9, Sundowns had set base at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida and travelled 200km to Orlando to play at the Inter&Co. Stadium, where they overcame Ulsan HD on Wednesday morning.
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Done with that first match against the South Korean champions, The Brazilians will cover approximately 1500km on their next travel on Thursday (today).
They will move from the state of Florida up north to Ohio, where they will play their second match in Group F in Cincinnati.
That game will be against Borussia Dortmund and will be played at the TQL Stadium, which is home to former Kaizer Chiefs defender Teenage Hadebe’s MLS club FC Cincinnati.
The match against the Germans will be played on Saturday (18:00 SA time).
From there, Sundowns have another trip covering about 1800km back to the state of Florida, though this time further south to Miami Gardens.
This is where they will come up against Brazilian club Fluminense at the Hard Rock Stadium on June 25 (21:00 SA time).
If they come out alive in Group F, then they will either play 1000km away at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia if they win the group.
Then should they be runners-up, it will mean travelling to the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
This will be approximately 1200km away.
Sundowns travelled to the USA for the Club World Cup having undertaken five long-distance trips to North Africa during their CAF Champions League campaign.
They also went to Kinshasa, DR Congo and had five trips to local coastal destinations.
All the travels in the USA will be worth the trouble with the club having already earned USD9,55 million (approx. R173 million) for participation, while their win against Ulsan came with USD2 million (approx. R36 million).
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They will earn USD1 million (approx. R18 million) for a draw, while progressing to the Last 16 will carry USD7,5 million (approx. R136 million) prizemoney.
In the quarterfinals, there will be USD13,1 million (approx. R237 million) with the money increasing all the way to USD40 million (approx. R725 million) for the winners.
