Roy Hodgson has revealed he plans to make a trip to Manaus in the new year, to full assess England's first World Cup base.
The Three Lions take on Italy in the Amazonian city in their first game of the competition in June and there is a World Cup workshop for all competing nations in February.
But Hodgson, along with Club England Managing Director Adrian Bevington, will be in Manaus before then to visit the city and potential bases with plans to stay there for two days before the opening game.
Speaking to TheFA.com whilst on a visit to the Teenage Cancer Trust unit at University College in London, Hodgson told TheFA.com: "We know it's a tough group, as most of the groups are, but we didn't want to be based up in the north.
“We've already decided that we'll go with the team [to Manaus] two days before, not the usual one day before.”
Roy Hodgson England Manager
"But we've got one game up there in Manaus, which will be very interesting as it presents very different challenges to the games in Belo Horizonte and Sao Paulo, but we'll be ready for that.
"I shall make a visit there before we have the workshop in February - I'll go early with Adrian Bevington and we'll also spend a day or so in Miami to check on our potential camp there before we go to Rio.
"We've already decided that we'll go with the team two days before, not the usual one day before and we hope that acclimatisation and the acclimatisation in Miami before will stand us in good stead."
Hodgson plans to embrace what is one of Brazil's most visited and interesting regions too and with plans for a pre-World Cup training camp in Miami, it's something he's looking forward to.
"It's going to very hot in all of those northern cities," he added.
"Whichever games you have been given in the north would have given you a different problem.
Roy Hodgson was speaking on a visit to the Teenage Cancer Trust unit in London.
"Manaus is on the edge of the Amazonian rainforest so it does pose a few more problems.
"But having said that, I can understand the Brazilians wanting to spread the World Cup around all of their major cities and Manaus is a major city in Brazil.
"As far as tourists are concerned, after Rio it might be one of the places everyone wants to go.
"So we should be thankful that we’re going to have a chance to see another iconic Brazilian city and get to know it for a few days and hope that the preparation we do in terms of acclimatisation will stand us in good stead for a game against out European counterparts."
