England’s match with Mexico delayed by an hour

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England’s match with Mexico delayed by an hour

Fans outside football stadiumImage source, Getty Images
ByJoe RindlBBC Sport journalist and Jack SkeltonBBC Sport Senior Journalist
  • Published

England’s World Cup last-16 match with Mexico has been delayed by one hour because of severe weather and is set to kick off at 02:00 BST on Monday (Sunday, 19:00 local time).

There has been heavy rain in Mexico City during the day and reports of lightning above the Azteca Stadium, which is staging the match.

Play cannot begin until 30 minutes have passed since lightning was last detected within an eight-mile radius of the stadium.

Fifa held talks with the English and Mexican football associations on Friday after proposing the match be moved to 19:00 BST on Sunday (12:00 local time) before a U-turn resulted in the kick-off time remaining unchanged.

The game will be broadcast live on BBC One, BBC iPlayer, BBC Radio 5 Live and the BBC Sport website and app.

A shelter-in-place order has earlier been issued at Azteca Stadium because of adverse weather.

With regards to delays caused by severe weather, Fifa has no power to make its own rules – it must adhere to the advice of local authorities.

Fifa said in a statement: “The safety and security of all individuals is Fifa’s priority.”

Sources told BBC Sport on Friday that Fifa had been set to reschedule the fixture to an earlier kick-off time, but news of the proposal angered both English and Mexican officials.

The Football Association requested time to review the weather forecast in more detail.

As talks went on, concerns over the impact on player preparation, fan travel and the logistics around moving the staging of such a huge game were discussed.

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