England are planning to tweak their pre-World Cup preparations to take into account the heat and humidity they expect to encounter in their opening match against Italy in Manaus.

Plans to play one match in Washington or Boston while at a pre-tournament acclimatisation camp in the United States have been scrapped and the FA will now seek to play both warm-up games in Miami, to help prepare for the Amazon heat. One of the matches will be against the USA, with whom the FA has an agreement in principle, with the other opponent still to be decided.

Roy Hodgson said he would back Group D opponents Italy's call for official drinks breaks. Fifa has said it is open to two-minute time-outs to allow players to drink water. Hodgson said the issue, and the question of whether teams should be allowed more time before naming their final squad, would be dealt with at a summit of the coaches from the 32 qualified nations in Brazil next year.

Despite the tough draw in Group D against Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica, those responsible for England's pre-tournament arrangements were at least pleased they could retain their first-choice base camp in Rio de Janeiro.

Other teams, including Italy, have had to alter their plans because all three of their group matches are based in the north. But Hodgson's squad will stay at the Royal Tulip on São Conrado beach and train at the Urca military base in the shadow of Sugarloaf mountain as planned, travelling to their opening match on 14 June, two days before the game. The other group matches, in São Paulo and Belo Horizonte, are about an hour's flight from Rio.

England will travel to Rio from Miami five days before their first match. Before that, Hodgson's initial squad of 30 will gather at a warm-weather training camp in Spain or Portugal, before returning to play a final friendly at Wembley on 28 or 29 May. It is likely that Hodgson will trim his squad to the final 23 before they depart for the US.

Immediately after the draw, FA officials headed to Manaus to check out the facilities, while others headed back to London via São Paulo.