LONDON, July 6, (V7N) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday appeared to confirm he had stepped in to prevent FIFA from moving the kick-off of England’s match against Mexico forward by six hours.
The apparent intervention, first reported by The Sun daily, came amid concerns the earlier start would give Mexico an unfair advantage because it would leave England less time to adapt to the altitude.
The Estadio Azteca in Mexico City sits 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 tense World Cup match to reach the quarter-finals.
Sunday’s game had been scheduled to kick off at 6:00pm local time (0000 GMT).
On Friday, however, FIFA confirmed it had held discussions about moving the match forward by six hours to avoid potential storms.
After consulting both teams, FIFA said it ultimately decided to keep the planned kick-off time, although adverse weather conditions did push the start back by one hour to 7:00pm (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."
END/WD/RH
