‘Here we will write our chapters’: England not scared by the unique event of the Mexico game, says Tuchel | 2026 World Cup

Thomas Tuchel has admitted England are enduring a challenging training session in Mexico City but is confident his side will be ready to “write our own chapters” when they face the World Cup holders at the Estadio Azteca.

The last 16 match against Mexico at their legendary home ground is the most anticipated of the summer and its scheduling has brought unusual problems. England must get used to playing 2,240 meters above sea level in a place where Mexico have not lost since 2013. They arrived on Friday evening and struggled to hit their stride on Saturday afternoon in their final practice session before the tie.

“We feel it even if we don’t practice,” said Tuchel. “I felt, for example, a little headache in the hotel all day and I didn’t sleep as well as in the previous days, but nothing you can’t bear. I think the players felt it in the first minutes of the training session and later on, they coped with it better. That’s just the way it is. We can’t adapt physically, it’s impossible, but we’re here one day before that so that we don’t feel it well tomorrow – so that we don’t feel it well tomorrow.”

Tuchel, however, was relaxed and upbeat, his confidence in England’s ability to handle such a unique event shining through. England have a history here, not to mention the defeat by Argentina in 1986 which planted the hand of God in the nation’s mind, but there is a lot of encouragement to come out on the right side this time.

“Yes, it hurts and it still hurts, but we didn’t come to take revenge, it doesn’t make sense,” said Tuchel. “We are here to write our own chapters, the team is ready, we have a good spirit.”

All England players apart from Reece James trained at the impressive Club Universidad Nacional complex, carved into a cliff in the south of the city and accessible only through a tunnel. Tuchel revealed that it is possible that James, who missed the last two games due to a hamstring injury, could be on the bench but the chances are remote. Jarell Quansah, who sat out the win against the Democratic Republic of the Congo with an ankle problem, has fully trained and is available to start at right back.

One of the oddities in England’s build-up was the strange uncertainty surrounding the start time of the Mexico game. For part of Friday afternoon it looked like it would be pushed forward by six hours from 6pm (1am BST), apparently due to the severe weather forecast in the hours surrounding the game. In the end no decision was made to make a change and Tuchel said the farce did not sit well with his team, who flew to Mexico City most of the time.

“There was a little confusion but only for me and the officials,” said Tuchel. The workers in England are said to be stunned when they see that there will be a change. “I’m not sure if the team knew that we were completely away from the players but as soon as we arrived it was resolved, it was a good time to be in the air for three and a half hours.

Tuchel played down England’s hostile reception at their hotel to Mexico fans on Friday night, calling their athletes “very respectful, very sensitive and supportive of our team”. Additional security measures have been taken to ensure that there is no repeat of the sleep disturbance that Ecuador, Mexico’s last 32 opponents, faced on Monday. “I don’t want to talk about problems that don’t exist, it doesn’t sound right,” he said.

The England head coach was also asked by a local journalist to confirm the wild suggestions that they use Viagra as a way to get high, drawing laughter from Tuchel and Jordan Henderson, who spoke to the media with him. “The details didn’t come to me, that’s not true,” said Tuchel.

Mexico thrashed Ecuador in the first half of their 2-0 win, and Tuchel said he expects another fast start. “I think they will try to give us a taste of the pressure and heat,” he said.

“We’ll have answers to that, we need answers, and it’s an important aspect of our team to be able to get answers to any questions. I’m very hopeful that we will do it tomorrow. It’s just a historic game in the big league and we feel it.”

Mexico’s manager, Javier Aguirre, admitted he will have to keep his players’ feet on the ground ahead of the incident where the build-up has reached a fever pitch across the country. Even his veteran forward, Raúl Jiménez, called it “the game of our lives”.

“The team knows where we are,” Aguirre said. “The team knows, and all my players have a smartphone and they are on fire, so they know the joy and the hope that is there.

“My responsibility is that whenever they are too confident or whenever they are too happy, I try to slow them down.”

More than 17,000 police officers will be deployed on the streets of Mexico City on the day of the match. Large public gatherings are expected and there are serious safety concerns after four people died in celebrations following the game in Ecuador.