3 hours ago 
Image source, Getty Images
Mexico's last-32 crippled against Ecuador was disrupted by thunderstorms
ByDale JohnsonFootball issues correspondent and Andy CryerBBC Sport Senior Journalist
Uncertainty, chaos, choler and U-turns.
England's World Cup last-16 necktie against Mexico was plunged into limbo connected Friday aft a chaotic five-and-a-half-hour play that near everyone guessing.
First Fifa was acceptable to bring the lucifer guardant by six hours. Then determination was choler from the English and Mexican shot associations. And past the kick-off clip stayed arsenic it was.
England's seismic gathering against the co-hosts successful Mexico City was abruptly shrouded successful uncertainty.
The lucifer astatine the Azteca volition present start, arsenic primitively planned, astatine 18:00 section clip connected Sunday - 01:00 BST connected Monday.
It means those successful England volition inactive request to either enactment up precocious oregon acceptable their alarm clocks to ticker unrecorded connected BBC One and iPlayer.
BBC Sport attempts to unpick precisely what happened during 1 of the World Cup's much baffling episodes.
18:30 BST - the play begins
England fans were gearing up for a agelong overnight displacement connected Sunday to ticker their last-16 necktie against Mexico.
Then reports started to look from Mexican journalists that Fifa was considering moving the kick-off guardant six hours.
The reason? Sources said it was due to the fact that of storms forecast astir the Azteca astatine the archetypal kick-off time.
Fifa was said to beryllium acrophobic astir the imaginable interaction of lightning and flooding.
Were the celebrations successful Mexico City which left 4 radical dead, aft the co-hosts last-32 triumph implicit Ecuador, besides portion of the concern? It was hard to tell.
Andres Vaca of vigor presumption TUDN broke the communicative of the imaginable power successful kick-off time, starring to overmuch bewilderment - and not conscionable among the fans.
England's squad was wrapping up an unfastened grooming league successful Kansas erstwhile the archetypal ripples were drifting crossed societal media.
The Football Association knew thing astir a imaginable docket alteration erstwhile BBC Sport journalists began to rise questions.
Information was chased. Sources briefed astir the change. An authoritative announcement from Fifa was said to beryllium imminent.
It would person been an unprecedented move.
Then the fallout began.
20:00 BST - FA and Fifa locked successful talks
It was not until astir 20:00 BST that the Football Association was informed that Fifa was so intending to change the kick-off time.
The FA asked for much clip to look successful to the program and recognize the reasoning.
But that was conscionable the start.
Behind the scenes, some nationalist associations were locked successful talks with Fifa. Both the English and Mexican governing bodies were aggravated that the alteration was being projected little than 48 hours earlier kick-off.
Among the issues raised were the interaction connected instrumentality travel, the logistics of changing the staging of specified a immense lawsuit astatine abbreviated notice, and the interaction connected the teams' preparations.
Meanwhile, England's players faced the media astatine their Kansas City grooming base. Morgan Rogers and Marcus Rashford had intelligibly been briefed connected the news. They gave answers that showed calm, and an insistence that immoderate alteration would not impact them.
At astir 21:30 BST, England boarded their chartered formation to Mexico City not knowing erstwhile the lucifer would be.
In Mexico City, the co-hosts' manager Javier Aguirre was carrying retired his media duties, calling the projected changes were a "kick successful the gut".
Reports successful Mexico claimed the BBC was portion of lobbying astir the projected kick-off change. A BBC spokesperson said the corp was "not progressive successful these discussions".
22:00 BST - commencement of the U-turn
Extreme upwind has had to beryllium a information going into this tournament. At past year's Club World Cup successful the United States, determination were six large upwind delays successful 63 matches.
Sources continued to little that, fixed the forecast, satellite football's governing assemblage wanted to minimise disruption to teams, fans and media.
But, conscionable arsenic it seemed arsenic if it was going to beryllium a lawsuit of waiting for the kick-off alteration to beryllium confirmed, reports emerged from Mexico media that Fifa was present considering a U-turn.
It seemed arsenic if the choler from the Mexico and England corners, aligned with each the logistical hurdles, proved excessively much.
How this could not person been anticipated is 1 of the cardinal questions successful the aftermath.
Mexico writer Gibran Araige posted connected societal media: "Well, it looks similar Fifa is backing down connected the docket change.
"Everything points to the lucifer staying astatine 6pm [Mexico time]. Both federations are annoyed."
Sources adjacent to the England campy told BBC Sport that lengthy discussions betwixt each parties were continuing down the scenes successful an effort to transportation Fifa not to amend the fixture.
Just earlier 00:00 BST, sources told BBC Sport the kick-off clip would stay arsenic primitively planned.
After the chaos, what present for fans?
So we were backmost to wherever we started. But why?
Sources corroborate the last determination was made for a assortment of reasons.
One of these issues was fans perchance missing the game.
The England Supporters' Travel Club was fixed an allocation of 3,000 tickets for the game, which sold retired astatine the ballot signifier successful December.
The interaction connected the supporters would mostly person depended upon wherever they are, and erstwhile they intended to get to Mexico City.
With a kick-off scheduled for 18:00 section time, fans could alert successful earlier connected Sunday.
There are 2 flights that onshore successful Mexico City from Atlanta connected the greeting of the game, which would person enabled supporters to marque the archetypal kick-off.
The flights onshore astatine 09:55 and 11:55 - and had the lucifer been shifted to 12:00 section time, immoderate fans taking those flights would person seen their plans thrown into chaos.
Other factors counting against the determination to 19:00 BST included the pushback from some nationalist associations and the logistics of having to propulsion backmost the Brazil-Norway necktie - scheduled for 21:00 BST connected Sunday - to debar an overlap of fixtures.
For those successful the UK, the determination to instrumentality with the archetypal 01:00 BST kick-off connected Monday means a precise precocious night.
Will the upwind beryllium easier to play successful now?
From Ben Rich, the BBC's pb upwind presenter
There was inactive a accidental of a ablution astatine the earlier 12:00 kick-off time, but it was smaller than it would beryllium aboriginal successful the time - and immoderate showers that bash make would beryllium little apt to turn into terrible thunderstorms.
Temperatures are apt to highest astatine 23C, respective degrees higher than they would person been astatine 18:00 - though humidity successful the mediate of the time whitethorn really beryllium a small little than it would beryllium aboriginal on.
Daily thunderstorms are mean successful Mexico City astatine this clip of twelvemonth - but forecasts suggest the hazard connected Sunday is peculiarly high, and if those storms make they could beryllium severe.
Mexican authorities forecasters accidental troughs - small-scale debased unit features - are expected successful the mediate and precocious layers of the ambiance implicit cardinal parts of Mexico connected Sunday, making the ambiance precise unstable.
As the prima heats the aerial adjacent to the ground, that instability volition let the aerial to emergence rapidly, forming the large cumulonimbus clouds that nutrient thunderstorms.
On Sunday, these storms look apt to bring predominant lightning, and determination is besides the hazard of hail.
Thunderstorm enactment tends to highest around, oregon conscionable after, the highest temperatures of the time - during the precocious day and into the evening.
So moving the kick-off earlier could person allowed the lucifer to instrumentality spot earlier the worst of the thunderstorm enactment gets going - though this was surely not guaranteed.
Is the aboriginal kick-off amended oregon worse for the altitude?
Dr. Barney Wainwright, elder probe chap astatine Leeds Beckett University, told BBC Sport earlier this week however altitude tin impact athletes.
"Maximum aerobic capableness astatine this benignant of altitude usually drops astir 10%," Wainwright said. "And that has a knock-on to performance."
But would kicking disconnected astatine 12:00 section clip alternatively than 18:00 person made immoderate difference?
"If it is warmer, the vigor tin person a treble whammy effect with altitude," Wainwright explained.
"When there's little oxygen successful the air, that means there's little successful the blood. That affects your quality to nutrient vigor for the muscles and your workout capacity.
"It besides takes distant from the brain. And the encephalon is important for america due to the fact that we request oxygen successful the encephalon for determination making, ocular processing, those benignant of things, which is important successful football."
Wainwright added that portion the forecast mightiness beryllium for 21C, you tin adhd a fewer degrees connected to relationship for the supporters and the somesthesia astatine transportation level.
But this mightiness not beryllium important capable to marque immoderate existent quality to the players.
"That would marque it a spot much difficult," Wainwright said. "But overall, from an altitude perspective, it won't marque immoderate existent quality to them."
The earlier kick-off could person affected the players' remainder patterns, though.
Altitude tin impact slumber patterns, and an aboriginal kick-off would person meant nary accidental to drawback up.
But, Wainwright added, the imaginable of stoppages for thunderstorms successful the evening could beryllium advantageous for England, giving them accidental to instrumentality a interruption from the effects of the altitude.
English (US)·