Thomas Tuchel has urged parents to let children stay up for the England vs Mexico 1am kickoff, telling them to write an excuse for school and make room for the World Cup last-16 match. The request lands as England prepare for a strange schedule and a tougher setting in Mexico City.
“Write an excuse for school and let them watch football,” Tuchel said ahead of the match. He added: “They have so much school to go to, but the World Cup is every four years. Let them watch, there will be a big, big match in four days and we need the support of everyone and especially of the children.”
Tuchel and Mexico City
The next game takes England to the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, where Tuchel expects more than one problem. He called it “maybe one of the most beautiful and exciting fixtures that you can have against Mexico in the Azteca and there will be a lot of obstacles waiting for us” and said the altitude will be “of course a big disadvantage because we cannot physically adapt to it and in four days it’s just impossible.”
England’s pre-tournament hot weather training camp in Miami may help, Tuchel said. He added: “Maybe we have the ideal platform now to genuinely believe that we are ready for that.” The match comes after Mexico beat Ecuador on Wednesday in their fourth successive victory of the World Cup so far and have still not conceded a goal in the tournament.
Harry Kane rescues England
The appeal to families follows England’s win over the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Brian Cipenga gave the African side an early lead and Harry Kane scored twice in the last 15 minutes. England had looked disjointed in the first half in Atlanta before Kane turned it around.
That comeback ended a long wait: England won a World Cup match after conceding first for the first time since the 1966 final at Wembley. Kane now has 13 goals at the World Cup finals, and he said: “We spoke about people having hero moments.”
He also said: “It can be anyone in the team, whether it’s me, a save, a block from the defenders, whoever it is.” With the last-16 tie due at 1am on Monday UK time, Tuchel wants children awake for it — and parents deciding whether to let that happen.
