Seeing as sources close to the club say that Xabi wants to build the team around Jackson, he must be pleased that Senegal are out and ha can start the rebuilding with his main man

4 hours ago, TheCeleryKing said:

Altitude - I think it is a very interesting problem because as you say there is no way of knowing which players will be more effected by the issue. It is a pre-made excuse for England and well we all know that the English National Team just love their excuses. Because even if England win then they can then claim fatigue and injuries for the next game.

Do England fly in the day of the game? Is that our plan? Fly in and out the day of the game.

Attitude - Mexico city is a great place. I am tempted to fly down for the game. Wild place and lots of fun. And the Azteca will be intense. The noise and atmosphere will be amazing. Hopefully the England players can hold it together.

Altitude is a real thing, though: it affects both player performance and the speed of the ball. It's very easy to misjudge long passes, for example, or get overwhelmed on counterattacks—in those conditions, it's often a good idea to drop the defensive line a bit.

However, I agree that it cannot be used as an excuse. This isn't 3,600-meter-high La Paz. Mexico City's altitude is a factor, but not an insurmountable one. Just look at Denver: the city's teams don't automatically become great because they play at altitude. Bad teams still struggle, and good teams still tend to win.

4 hours ago, The Boehly Babes said:

I can confirm with 100% accuracy that Noni Madueke is acutely negatively affected by altitude and therefore should not be in the matchday squad. As a precaution.

Watching Pedro Neto for an entire season led me to hating modern wingers… 3 games of Noni at this World Cup is just too much though.

What a lazy, arrogant, talentless c**t he really is.

Best business BlueCo ever did was shipping him out. Not a single redeemable feature.

Neto suffers from the same curse as many "tactical" players: when they're compared to more exciting, flashy players, they almost always lose the argument, even though they do completely different things on the pitch and can actually complement each other.

That said, I agree that Neto has been poor lately. It does feel like a case of him not putting in the work and perhaps believing he's better than he currently is—at least that's the impression I've been getting.
I hope Alonso can help in this regard.

I don't envy the Three Lions playing a summer World Cup game in the Azteca against Mexico. If they make it pass that I think they could make the final.

20 hours ago, acaeus said:

There are two options:
1. Travel to the location at least 2 weeks in advance and train there until the game.
2. Travel to the location only a few hours before kickoff.
while being the better option, #1 isn't really feasible, so that leaves #2.

It's unfair—no other way to put it. It's a much bigger advantage than any crowd, but we will be hearing about the crowd, not the altitude, until the kickoff. 😉

Agree …. It is “unfair” however home advantage is huge in a World Cup (we should know) and frankly we are no way near good enough anyway so it is a moot point

the only chance we have is if Tuchel comes up with a plan and the players execute

On 01/07/2026 at 17:20, Valerie said:

Am I the only one who actually says Dr. Congo, as in a colleague of Dr. No?

Which doctor? They could have done with one.

25 minutes ago, OTL said:

Which doctor? They could have done with one.

FFS. Leave it to @Boyne.

I am the only one who thinks Yamal is over rated ? - Don't get me wrong he is good and I wouldn't mind him at Chelsea but there is not much end product is there ?

5 minutes ago, dermott said:

FFS. Leave it to @Boyne.

Which witch is which?

Just now, OTL said:

Which witch is which?

Quit while you’re behind.

Now that Cucurella isn't a Chelsea player, I think he's going to do my head in watching him do that whole screaming in agony and putting his legs in a crossing position and reaching for his ankle when he dives 😐

France, Spain and Argentina are the clear top sides of this tournament.

Brazil are the tier below.

England are the tier below that based on what I have seen so far.

He just put in a very nice looking cross for the third goal. But the replay revealed he completely scuffed it and it was a bit of a fluke.

1 minute ago, Scott Harris said:

France, Spain and Argentina are the clear top sides of this tournament.

Brazil are the tier below.

England are the tier below that based on what I have seen so far.

It does feel as if those teams are so clear of England that it’s almost unimaginable that we can beat two or three of them to win the tournament. Mexico look tough enough for us, although I expect us to win that one.

Mexico have only lost 2 of their last 89 games at the Azteca. This is a tough assignment.

59 minutes ago, andy said:

I am the only one who thinks Yamal is over rated ? - Don't get me wrong he is good and I wouldn't mind him at Chelsea but there is not much end product is there ?

Well, there was a game at Stamford Bridge this season where this Yamal fellah was totally upstaged by our very own Esta-wow!

Obviously Yamal is good but . . .I mean Barthelona have pumped the lad up. They have to have a young superstar for all their marketing purposes.

23 minutes ago, carrickblue said:

Mexico have only lost 2 of their last 89 games at the Azteca. This is a tough assignment.

Who were the two?

Attitude shouldn't be problem. Just because we are playing in Mexico, our attitude shouldn't be any different.

We've got to have the right attitude whoever or wherever we are playing..

Edited Thursday at 22:584 days by The Rising Sun
Info

One thing I have noticed is that as group winners we are playing another group winner, no other tie is set up like this.

To make matters worse it is at their home ground.

Despite this I think we will win though there are plenty of excuses there if we lose.

No one complained about the altitude when the World Cup was held in Mexico in 1984.

Maradona waltzed through the England defence without gasping his lungs out to score THAT goal.

But maybe the lack of air pressure helped him to soar above Shilton to perform the hand of God?

10 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

No one complained about the altitude when the World Cup was held in Mexico in 1984.

Maradona waltzed through the England defence without gasping his lungs out to score THAT goal.

But maybe the lack of air pressure helped him to soar above Shilton to perform the hand of God?

1986 - they went to Mexico weeks ahead of time to acclimatize.

On 01/07/2026 at 19:26, acaeus said:

There are two options:
1. Travel to the location at least 2 weeks in advance and train there until the game.
2. Travel to the location only a few hours before kickoff.
while being the better option, #1 isn't really feasible, so that leaves #2.

England will fly into Mexico on Friday. For the game on Sunday.

12 hours ago, dkw said:

How is he not being hammered for this, if he was still at Chelsea Sky Sports would be showing this on the hour...

True

they decided not to hammer him because he's not a Chelsea player.. They have a policy about what they show to millions of viewers that is dictated by whether or not he is a current Chelsea player.

Cronaldo 0 Croatia 1

Likely the last 35 minutes of Ronaldo's professional career.

Ronaldo has been horrible but their defence has been far worse.

Edited Friday at 00:174 days by SydneyChelsea

16 minutes ago, TheCeleryKing said:

1986 - they went to Mexico weeks ahead of time to acclimatize.

I d

30 minutes ago, TheCeleryKing said:

1986 - they went to Mexico weeks ahead of time to acclimatize.

didn't know that mate. But didn't Germany reach the final?