HAMBURG, Germany -- The U.S. soccer team decided to spend two nights at Ramstein Air Base because of safety concerns with the designated FIFA hotels in the Kaiserslautern area.

The Americans traveled from their base hotel in Hamburg on Thursday, flying on a charter direct to Ramstein, where about 50,000 U.S. military, civilians and their families are based.

"I think our primary concern was security as a starting point," U.S. coach Bruce Arena said.

FIFA has designated two team hotels in or near each host city. For Kaiserslautern, they are the Steigenberger and the Dorint Sofitel, both in Mannheim.

"The U.S. team have been granted permission because when their special services inspected the venue-specific hotel, they weren't so sure that from a security point of view, it would be sufficient to their requirements," FIFA spokesman Andreas Herren said in Berlin.

The U.S. team is traveling with security from the State Department and is guarded by police. Player families will fly to Ramstein on Saturday and leave from the base following the game.

Herren said requests for special circumstances were handled on a case-by-case basis.

The U.S. team spent several days at Ramstein before its March 1 exhibition game against Poland in Kaiserslautern. At a news conference before the team traveled Thursday, Arena was asked whether there was enough security at the base.

"At Ramstein?" he asked out loud. "I feel a lot safer with all those bombers down the road."

AP Sports Writer John Pye in Berlin contributed to this report.