England captain Harry Kane has said he hopes fans will do a “all-nighters” to watch their game against Mexico in the early hours of Monday morning.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Saturday, Kane said: “We know how much the World Cup means to everyone and all the fans at home, so I\u2019m hoping there will be a few all-nighters to be honest, just going all the way through and celebrating until the next day and then catch up on some sleep after that.”<\/p>\n
Devoted fans at home were given brief hope of being able to watch the game at a more sociable hour as Fifa were in discussions to move the kick-off forward to 1900BST (1200 local time) because of the threat of electrical storms.<\/p>\n
ITV News understands Fifa had been involved in ongoing discussions over moving the kick-off time of Mexico v England to earlier in the day on Sunday due to the risk of weather disruption, including flooding.<\/p>\n
But no official decision was made. <\/p>\n
Local forecasts suggest there could be thunderstorms and heavy rain around the time the game is originally scheduled to take place.<\/p>\n
Under safety rules, games face an automatic 30-minute delay if lightning strikes within eight miles of the stadium, with the clock resetting each time there is a new strike.<\/p>\n
Fifa\u2019s World Cup regulations say the governing body has \u201cthe right to cancel, reschedule or relocate one or more matches\u2026for any reason at its sole discretion, including as a result of force majeure or due to health, safety or security concerns\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mexico’s match against \u200bEcuador earlier this week was delayed due to rain.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Keir Starmer extended the weekend when he announced that pubs can stay open until 5am earlier this week, which Kane said was “good news.”<\/p>\n
Some police forces have reacted negatively to the news, saying the announcement came too late for them to plan appropriately.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the media about the potential change at England’s training session on Friday, winger Marcus Rashford downplayed the impact of the move.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think for us it\u2019s the same, how we prepare for the game,\u201d Rashford said. \u201cIt has to be the same, we have to be focused, we have to be ready for anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s one strength of the group, everyone included, the players, the staff, we\u2019re ready for whatever challenges get thrown at us. Obviously it\u2019s not ideal, but also it doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former England right-back and coach Gary Neville spoke of his shock at the prospect of the fixture time moving.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor our players it\u2019s worse, it\u2019s a sporting disadvantage to England,\u201d he said on ITV. \u201cThere\u2019s a sporting integrity issue here as well because I\u2019ve never seen a League Two game moved, I\u2019ve never seen a Sunday League game moved.<\/p>\n
\u201cFifa are just willy nilly making it up and moving a game. It just feels a little bit sort of strange.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately you can put fan safety at the heart of it. This is a stadium that has these sorts of conditions before where they would have a procedure in place to deal with that\u201d<\/p>\n
A kick-off alteration would only add to what England boss Tuchel knew would be \u201ca lot, a lot, a lot of obstacles\u201d <\/a>awaiting them in Mexico.<\/p>\n An intimidating atmosphere awaits at the Azteca, while the visitors are braced for hostility outside the team hotel.<\/p>\n