UK PM steps in over change to England-Mexico kick-off time

The apparent intervention, first reported by The Sun daily, came amid fears the earlier start would give Mexico an unfair advantage over England because it would mean the team had less time to adapt to the altitude.

The Estadio Azteca in Mexico City is 2,240 metres (7,350 feet) above sea level posing a tough challenge for visiting players.

“We had to battle with the FA (Football Association) to get it back to where it was, which was counterintuitive,” Starmer told guests at a garden reception at his Downing Street office.

England beat Mexico 3-2 in a nerve-racking World Cup match to reach the quarter-finals.

Sunday’s game had been due to kick off at 6:00pm local time (0000 GMT).

On Friday, however, FIFA confirmed that it had held discussions about moving the match forward by six hours to avoid potential storms.

After consultation with both teams, FIFA said it had ultimately decided to stick with the planned kick-off time, although adverse weather conditions did push kick-off back by one hour to 7:00 pm (0100 GMT).

The intervention comes as US President Donald Trump confirmed he had called FIFA President Gianni Infantino and asked him to review the World Cup suspension of USA striker Folarin Balogun.

Football’s governing body on Sunday took the unusual decision to suspend the ban for one year. Trump quickly thanked the governing body in a social media post for “reversing a great injustice”.