The BBC has denied accusations from Mexico that it played a role in attempting to move England's World Cup last-16 match to an earlier kick-off time. Friday evening descended into chaos as Mexican media initially reported that FIFA had decided to switch the match from 1am BST on Monday morning (6pm local time on Sunday) to 7pm BST (12pm local). The reason behind the proposed change was due to thunderstorms and heavy rain forecast around the time of the fixture at Azteca Stadium.
Weather disruptions and safety rules
Adverse weather has already had a major impact on games at the World Cup this summer. France's group match against Iraq in Philadelphia was delayed by more than two hours due to heavy rain and thunderstorms. Earlier this week, Mexico's win against Ecuador in the last-32 stage was also delayed by thunderstorms around Azteca Stadium, with the game kicking off an hour later than scheduled. Due to World Cup safety rules, any lightning strikes detected within eight miles of a stadium result in an automatic 30-minute delay to play.
BBC's denial
Fox Sports in Spanish had claimed that the BBC, an official World Cup broadcast rights holder, also pushed to move the kick-off time to an earlier slot to secure a more favourable viewing time for England supporters in the UK. However, a BBC spokesperson said on Friday night that the broadcaster was 'not involved in these discussions.'
Reactions from England and Mexico
The English Football Association were said to be stunned after hearing of the potential change through enquiries from journalists. Thomas Tuchel and his England players travelled to Mexico City from their Kansas City training base on Friday afternoon and would have been forced to drastically alter their preparations. England supporters based in the United States who had tickets for the game in Mexico City also faced the prospect of paying significant amounts of money to rebook flights at short notice.
Mexico's head coach, Javier Aguirre, was furious with FIFA's proposal, claiming he had not been consulted about the change and described it as a 'kick in the stomach.' 'It's not like all the work we've done goes out the window, but it comes pretty close because we're losing six hours that were part of our entire matchday plan,' Aguirre told Radio Formula. 'I don't like it at all. Obviously, we'll comply with whatever FIFA decides, but neither my players nor I are happy about it. There's absolutely no advantage to playing at noon. None whatsoever. It really throws a wrench into everything.'
Aftermath
The proposed change was eventually scrapped after shambolic FIFA talks, leaving both teams to proceed with the original schedule. The match remains set for 1am BST on Monday morning.
