Get free access to the most comprehensive World Cup coverage in The Athletic app.IRVINE, Calif. — The U.S. men’s national team began its pre-World Cup journey amid the bright lights of Manhattan, and will kick off its tournament Friday here at the world’s most expensive stadium, in a primetime opener vs. Paraguay watched by millions around the globe.But until then, in between taxing training sessions, players have found “our little oasis,” as goalkeeper Matt Turner said, away from all the cameras and attention that will trail them wherever they go.The “oasis” is their team hotel, a luxury resort on rocky cliffs overlooking a beach about 50 miles down the California coast from Los Angeles.“We’re a little bit spoiled, to say the least,” midfielder Gio Reyna said Tuesday.“The hotel is amazing,” defender Joe Scally said. “Obviously the ocean’s amazing. Everything surrounding us is perfect conditions for us to succeed. So it’s very nice.”It is no surprise that an international team full of highly-paid players would stay at some of the fanciest digs available. But location does matter to World Cup teams, and there is enough of a strategy behind it that federations were eyeing up optimal base camps for this tournament months, or even years in advance.The U.S. has its own history of such situations. After the U.S. was stationed at hotels in bustling urban areas in Seoul, South Korea, and Hamburg, Germany, for the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, 2010 head coach Bob Bradley brought in an entirely different approach for South Africa’s tournament, stationing the squad at the remote Irene Country Lodge, a dairy farm outside Johannesburg.