Riot police have been deployed outside England's hotel in Mexico City as Thomas Tuchel's side prepare for what Alan Shearer calls 'an amazing spectacle' – a World Cup last-16 tie against co-hosts Mexico at the iconic Azteca Stadium. The security operation is the 'biggest ever seen for an England football match', with 17,000 police officers on duty across the capital, according to the Standard.
Mexico manager Javier Aguirre, the 67-year-old known as 'El Vasco', is aiming to mastermind a famous win that would end England's tournament hopes. Aguirre has guided Mexico out of the group stage in each of his three previous World Cups as manager – and his former assistant Stuart Gelling warns he understands English football's mentality. Gelling, a former Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers academy coach, worked with Aguirre at Japan in 2014 after a chance phone call. 'If you don't speak the language or understand the culture, it can be difficult,' Gelling told Mirror Football. 'That's why if you look at Javier and his history, he understands the mentality.'
“England face Mexico at the Azteca in World Cup last-16, with riot police guarding their hotel and a hostile 80% Mexican crowd.”
England, backed by large crowds at their previous matches, will face a hostile atmosphere at the Azteca. Shearer, co-commentating for the BBC, predicts the crowd could be as much as 80% Mexican fans – a stark contrast to the 75% England support they enjoyed against DR Congo in Atlanta. 'Instead of having any fear about the different tests they face, they will just be thinking 'bring it on',' Shearer wrote. 'All the talk stops when they run out anyway.'
But concerns over altitude, a deafening crowd, and potential hotel disruption – Shearer noted 'an alarm going off' would not surprise him – are compounded by selection headaches. Reece James trained alone on the eve of the match, leaving a right-back crisis, though defender Jarell Quansah retains hope of featuring after injury, the Standard reports.
Aguirre, who holds ambitions of becoming the first Mexican manager in the Premier League, will be roared on by a nation starved of World Cup glory since 1986 – the last time England visited the Azteca, losing a quarter-final to Argentina. That defeat, watched by a teenage Shearer, remains England's only previous match at the stadium. 'These are the kind of games and moments you train and work so hard for,' Shearer added. 'It's going to be an amazing spectacle as well as a unique test.'
Monday's 1am kick-off, which caused confusion after reports of a proposed change that would have disrupted travelling fans, now sees England bidding to reach the quarter-finals. For Aguirre, the scalp would add to Mexico's record books. For Tuchel's side, it is a chance to conquer the Azteca.