With lots of talk about Mexico’s incredible record at the Azteca ahead of their World Cup meeting with England, we look a little deeper and ask whether it’s been exaggerated.<\/p>\n
England made hard work of DR Congo, with Harry Kane’s<\/a> late brace edging them through 2-1<\/a> and setting up a last-16 tie with Mexico in Mexico City<\/a> at 01:00 BST on Monday.<\/p>\n Much has already been made of the multitude of factors stacked against the Three Lions, with there no escaping Mexico’s<\/a> enormous advantage playing at altitude.<\/p>\n All of their games at this World Cup<\/a> have been played way above sea level, with three at the Azteca (2,200 metres of elevation) and one in Guadalajara (1,670m).<\/p>\n In normal circumstances, athletes would spend at least 10 days in that environment to be properly prepared to perform in it, something England<\/a> could never do.<\/p>\n Mexico are not only adjusted to that and have home advantage, but they have had almost a day’s extra recovery since beating Ecuador 2-0<\/a> and are based where this fixture takes place.<\/p>\n England, meanwhile, flew from Atlanta to Kansas City on Wednesday and will then have to travel to Mexico City for Sunday’s game, a flight of more than three hours.<\/p>\n Everything has been weighted to Mexico’s advantage so far this tournament, helping them to maintain a 100% record and avoid conceding a single goal.<\/p>\n This is all without mentioning their much-vaunted record at the Azteca.<\/p>\n Are Mexico really unbeatable at the Azteca?<\/p>\n Mexico’s record at the Azteca is undeniable impressive. They have won 70, drawn 17 and lost twice in 89 competitive games there.<\/p>\n In 10 World Cup matches across the 1970, ’86 and current tournaments they have never lost.<\/p>\n But who have they been playing? Especially in recent years.<\/p>\n The nature of CONMEBOL qualifying means it is rare Mexico will ever face a strong opponent at the Azteca.<\/p>\n As a co-host for this tournament they were awarded top seeding, before also benefiting from the fortune of a highly favourable draw.<\/p>\n South Africa (2-0), Czechia (3-0) and Ecuador (2-0)<\/a> were all beaten. The latter were the only side ranked in the world’s top 25.<\/p>\n South Africa (54th) and Czechia (48th) still rank considerably higher than the vast majority of opposition Mexico usually welcome to their high-altitude fortress. <\/p>\n The Czechs were the first European side to play at the stadium since 1986. Brazil have not played a competitive match there since 2003. Argentina never have.<\/p>\n Mexico did not have to qualify for this tournament, but in qualifying for the 2022 World Cup they didn’t have it all their own way.<\/p>\n Canada, Costa Rica and the USA – hardly heavyweights of the game, but the three highest-ranked teams in North American qualifying alongside Mexico – all left the Azteca with a draw. As did Jamaica as it happens.<\/p>\n While there is no disputing their unbeaten record, heading into this tournament their results at the Azteca were more than a little sketchy.<\/p>\n Four wins – over Honduras (twice), Panama and El Salvador – and four draws in their previous eight competitive games was nothing to get excited about.<\/p>\n Can England beat Mexico at the Azteca?<\/p>\n England are without doubt at a disadvantage on several levels, with the emotion, altitude and home support all in favour of the co-hosts.<\/p>\n Only four of players in Mexico’s 26-man squad play in Europe’s top five leagues. Their standout player at the World Cup has been 35-year-old striker Raul Jimenez<\/a>, who will spearhead Wolves’ Sky Bet Championship promotion push next season.<\/p>\n Their victory over Ecuador in the round of 32 was a first in the knockout stage since last hosting in 1986.<\/p>\n Thomas Tuchel’s side will be the highest-ranked team to visit the Azteca for a competitive fixture since Brazil in 2003. Taking all of the extra factors into play this is still a tie England should win.<\/p>\n When did England last play at the Azteca?<\/p>\n The Three Lions have their own emotional inspiration to draw upon for this last-16 tie.<\/p>\n It will be the first time England have played at the Azteca since the 1986 World Cup quarter-final, a day when Diego Maradona famously produced both the Goal of the Century and his Hand of God goal to help Argentina to a 2-1 victory.<\/p>\n More World Cup content from Sporting LifeOutright previewsSafer gambling<\/p>\n We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.<\/p>\n If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline \/ GamCare<\/a> on 0808 8020 133.<\/p>\n Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org<\/a> and gamblingtherapy.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With lots of talk about Mexico’s incredible record at the Azteca ahead of their World Cup meeting with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-529689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}