England beat World Cup holders Argentina 4-3 in unusual competition

England boss Thomas Tuchel is already celebrating a win over the defending champions, months before the World Cup.

Both the Three Lions and Argentina will set up home in Kansas City, where we can reveal Harry Kane and his teammates have already won the battle of the hotels. England will stay at the four-star Inn at Meadowbrook, while Argentina's players have been relegated to the city's three-star Origin Hotel.

To add insult to injury, the defending champions' soon-to-be home is in the middle of a dusty, noisy building site. Rooms at England's hotel, which is surrounded by lush fields and man-made lakes, are also much larger than those where Argentina's players will stay during the tournament, which starts on June 11.

• England World Cup Squad: The players who SHOULD miss out on Thomas Tuchel's final 26

• England fans turn to bootleg shirts from China after being priced out of World Cup kit

A source told the Mirror: "We've been joking that it's 4-3 to England in terms of hotels. I'm sure Thomas Tuchel would settle for the same score against Argentina on the pitch."

England's on-field preparations were dealt a blow with a 1-0 defeat to Japan at Wembley on Tuesday night. But their off-field plans are certainly meeting expectations in Kansas City, which is famous for its distinct style of barbecue. We can reveal Tuchel, who is bidding to bring the World Cup back to England for the first time since 1966, decided Kansas City will be England’s base for the tournament after he and other FA bigwigs were wooed at some of the cowtown’s best-known grill joints.

It is not known what Tuchel, who describes himself as an "imperfect vegetarian", ate during the recce, but other members of the England backroom team are understood to have tucked into Joe’s speciality, its ‘Z-Man' brisket, chicken and pork buns, named after local sports radio personality Mike Zarrick.

An insider at the Swope Soccer Village, where England will train, revealed FA staff were deliberately wooed with the city’s famous grilled grub because they knew it would win them over. They told us: "We deliberately took the England crew to sample some barbeque when we were trying to bring them to Kansas City at Joe’s and Jack Stack.

"Thomas Tuchel was part of the group that came over. They loved it, especially the Z-Man buns, and they said they will love to have more when they return. They signed up to come to Kansas City right after we took them out for the barbecue at Joe’s, so it worked."

The source added: "The city is the place in America for barbeque and we could have gone to any of the hundreds of places here and we would have won them over."

Last week, we told how preparations in Kansas are continuing at pace, with privacy fences at the training ground being doubled in height. And earlier this week we revealed England's World Cup stars will take part in a special "meet and greet" to introduce themselves to residents living near their team hotel, which will be closed to the public during England's stay.

Tourism bosses are also hoping England's players may get the chance to meet up with Taylor Swift’s fiancé, Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce and his team mates while in town. Kelce co-owns a steakhouse in the city with fellow NFL superstar Patrick Mahomes.

Our source added: "Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes are huge sports fans and supporters of the city. Both turned out when Lionel Messi played here with Inter Miami and we do hope they will turn up at the England camp. Hopefully Taylor will be with Travis, you never know. She has been to many NFL games here to see him play.”