🐍 The Swiss Football Federation published the official map of its base camp in San Diego, California, and there it was: a red strip with two words no one expected to read before a World Cup — ‘Snake Zone. Beware of Snakes’.
Since June 4, Murat Yakin’s team has been training at the San Diego Jewish Academy, a facility surrounded by wooded area where venomous rattlesnakes live. According to the San Diego Natural History Museum, Southern California is home to up to 4 different species of this viper. The instruction for players and coaching staff is clear: no one enters that area, no matter how many balls have landed there. A specialized surveillance team permanently patrols the perimeter. 🇨🇭
The detail that makes it all even more cinematic: rattlesnakes do not exist in the wild in Switzerland. The European players are facing an opponent that appears in no tactical manual. Switzerland makes its debut on June 13 against Qatar in Group B… if it manages to survive training first. 😅🌍