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Mexico vs. England faces the likelihood of being brought six hours forward to avoid potential storms and flooding in Mexico City on Sunday, which will be music to the ears of English fans back home.
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The round of 16 clash at the Estadio Azteca, where England infamously fell to a combination of Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ and arguably the greatest World Cup goal of all-time from the same man 40 years ago, was originally scheduled for 6 p.m. local time (8 p.m. ET, 1 a.m. BST) on Sunday, July 6.
However, heavy rain and possible storms forecast for the evening has led to suggestions, first reported locally, that kickoff could be brought forward by several hours.
Already at this tournament, lightning and thunderstorms delayed Mexico’s round of 32 win against Ecuador-also at the Azteca-before kickoff. France vs. Iraq during the group stage was paused for two hours at halftime. England also had to wait to kick off a warmup against Costa Rica in Orlando because of a storm.
A potential new kickoff time of 12 p.m. (2 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. BST) would see the match played in more stable conditions with a lower chance of the rain and stormy weather that could cause problems in the original slot.
The reason it’s good news for millions of England fans at home is because the match suddenly becomes vastly more watchable. Kickoffs in the middle of the night have been an unavoidable factor for fans in Europe throughout this World Cup, although England had survived until now with no start time later than 10 p.m. BST in the team’s first four matches. The round of 16 against Mexico was different, supposed to kickoff at 1 a.m. BST, in the early hours of a normal working Monday.
A swift decision was made by the U.K. government to facilitate communal watching, allowing pubs and bars to remain open until the unusually late time of 5 a.m. BST. But many fans would still have been forced to give the game a miss in order to sleep and then catch up later-the BBC made helpful plans to show an ‘as live’ full rerun at the more palatable time of 7:10 a.m. BST.
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But a rescheduled noon kickoff in Mexico City equates to 7 p.m. in the U.K. (2.p.m. ET) and potentially paving the way to the country’s highest live television audience of the year so far. The current record for 2026 was set only days ago when a peak audience of 16.3 million tuned into the BBC for the win against DR Congo.
England’s FA Left ‘Stunned’ by Late Change
But even if that is huge news for eager fans back home, it’s a challenge for those out in North America, as well as for the team itself.
The Guardian writes that the FA is left “stunned” that bringing forward the kickoff time by six hours is even being considered so close to gameday. There was apparently no heads up from FIFA, with English soccer’s governing body learning of the expected switch through media reports.
For the England players, the earlier kickoff will change their routines on Sunday, when they eat, for example, and how much resting beforehand will be possible. Travel is less of an issue because FIFA requires teams to train locally to the stadium the day before the match. England was always scheduled to fly from it central base in Kansas City to Mexico on Friday and train on Saturday.
Yet fans following the team will have a harder job adjusting. England has played every match so far in the United States and some supporters, it has been reported, had planned to cross the border and arrive in Mexico City on Sunday morning, eliminating the need for an extra night’s accommodation beforehand. But with a midday start, suddenly flying in on the day is too late.
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This story was originally published July 3, 2026 at 1:26 PM.