Earlier this week the Mexico national team won one of their biggest games ever as they took down Ecuador, securing their second-ever knockout round win, to advance to the Round of 16. They'll have homefield advantage tomorrow for their game against mighty England, but fans planning on going will need to make some scheduling changes.
A serious "weather disruption" is expected to hit Mexico City tomorrow evening, which has prompted FIFA to call an audible on the start time. Rather than being played at 7 p.m. ET, the game will reportedly now kick off at 2 p.m. ET. The local time will be noon.
"The World Cup match between Mexico and England on Sunday is likely to have its kick-off time changed due to the risk of weather disruption including flooding, sources told ESPN," Mark Ogden, Tom Hamilton and Lizzy Becherano wrote for the outlet.
"Kick-off is set to become 12 p.m. local time at the Azteca Stadium, which is 7 p.m. in the UK and 2 p.m ET.
"FIFA took lessons from last year's Club World Cup which was blighted by six major weather delays in 63 matches. The governing body is now in ongoing discussions to move the Mexico vs. England kick-off time amid the threat of bad weather, sources told ESPN."
El Tri vs. The Three Lions
This will be just the second-ever World Cup meeting between Mexico and England. They last met in the group stage of the 1966 World Cup, which saw England win 2-0 at Wembley Stadium en route to their first and only World Cup title.
But the shoe will be on the other foot this time. Mexico has homefield advantage in the high altitude comforts of their iconic Estadio Azteca. And it's been an advantage they've taken full advantage of.
© Brett Davis-Imagn Images
Mexico went a perfect 3-0-0 in the group stage, beating South Africa, South Korea and Czechia by a combined margin of 6-0. Throw in their 2-0 win over Ecuador on Tuesday and you have an El Tri side that has four wins in four games without a single conceded goal. All of those games have been at either Estadio Azteca or Estadio Akron on home soil.
England, by contrast has struggled to impress for large stretches of their games. While they did go unbeaten in their group stage games, they were held scoreless in a 0-0 draw with Ghana. And in the Round of 32 it took a dominant second half from Harry Kane just to overcome DR Congo in a 2-1 win.
Suffice it to say, Mexico has handled their business better than England have thus far.
An upset could be in the works.
