Keir Starmer got involved as FIFA made a big decision before the England vs Mexico game.
Even though Sir Keir Starmer announced he would step down as UK Prime Minister a couple of weeks ago, he reportedly got involved personally in FIFA’s decisions before England’s World Cup round-of-16 game against Mexico.
On July 6, Thomas Tuchel’s team gave a brave performance at Mexico City Stadium – once called Estadio Azteca – and won 3-2, even though they played much of the second half with only 10 players after Jarrel Quansah was sent off.
Jude Bellingham scored two quick goals to put England 2-0 ahead by the 38th minute, but Mexico’s Julián Quiñones then scored to bring his team back into the game. Harry Kane’s penalty made it 3-1 on the hour mark. The drama continued as Kane ended up conceding a penalty after fouling Brian Gutiérrez, which Raúl Jiménez scored.
England held on for a fantastic win after an intense night in Mexico City. Earlier that day, kick-off was delayed by an hour because of thunderstorms.
Before the match, there was buzz about moving the kick-off from 1am British Summer Time to 7pm the day before to avoid storms. But after pushback from both the English and Mexican football associations, the original time stayed.
Now, The Sun reports that Prime Minister Starmer also influenced this. He told the FA he didn’t want the game moved since it would give England less time to get used to the high altitude. A source said, “The Mexicans were really pushing to move the game because of the storm. But Keir wasn’t having it and thought they wanted to disrupt England’s prep, so he insisted the time stay the same.”
It’s also said that the FA checked with Downing Street about the change. Plus, Starmer decided to keep pubs open until 5am so fans could watch the match with friends and family. He said, “Football might be coming home, but we’re making sure fans don’t have to.” He added that keeping pubs open late was great news for supporters and local communities.
England’s next World Cup game is against Norway on July 11, with the quarter-final scheduled at Miami Stadium.