As England is set to face Mexico, FA bosses fear they may have a hostile night on Saturday with concerns rival fans could target the team hotel with fireworks before the huge clash
The Three Lions fear a night of hell ahead of the crunch match against Mexico as home fans target the England team’s Mexico City hotel to try and keep the players awake at night.
England are forced to stay in a designated FIFA selected hotel ahead of the game. Before Mexico’s last game, hundreds of fans set off fireworks outside the Ecuador team’s hotel – luxury Westin in the Santa Fe area of the city. Riot police were called in to disperse the fans and furious Ecuador bosses made an official complaint to FIFA.
FA bosses fear the local fans will be planning something similar on Saturday night before the round of 16 game. The Mexico City mayor Clara Brugada urged Mexican fans to behave “responsibly, carefully and with empathy.”
England fans are desperately scrambling to get tickets. The Three Lions supporters will be vastly outnumbered by the home following inside the iconic Azteca stadium. But that’s not stopping them snapping up tickets – but some will be seated among the home fans.
One ticket on an official FIFA resale site was available for £2,600 last night. But two England superfans who already visited Mexico City earlier this tournament spoke to the Mirror to give a chilling safety warning to England fans of “terrifying and chaotic scenes.”
The warnings from Jo Lewis and Gary Taylor – who fly in on Saturday lunchtime – came as four Mexican fans died from suffocation following celebrations after the last game. The authorities have assured England fans they will be safe.
At Atlanta’s Hartfield-Jackson airport last night the first England fans were flying out following the dramatic Harry Kane inspired 2-1 win over Congo. Sitting in a Subway on concourse E Graham Jones, 57, said: “My ticket is guaranteed through the FA but we still don’t know which section we are sitting in yet. It could be one of the great matches in England history.”
Fixtures in Mexico City have resulted in some of the highest resale prices, coupled with low supply, throughout the tournament, with home supporters eager to watch their team in action. Before the draw in December, the England Supporters’ Travel Club was given an allocation of 4,000 tickets for the match at the 80,824 stadium. The cost of flights has also exploded.
One supporter who was in Atlanta is actually flying 1,000 miles north to Canada before heading back down to Mexico to keep costs down. It will take ten hours to get there from Atlanta but will ‘only’ cost £380. Daniel Griffiths, 39, from Solihull now lives in Texas, said: “I’m prepared to pay big money for a ticket but I only want to be in the England section This is not a game to sit among the Mexico fans. It could be very hostile.”
FA bosses are planning on the squad arriving a day earlier than expected in Mexico from their base in Kansas. Mexico’s last opponents, Ecuador, complained about their treatment before the round of 32 game. Thousands of fans congregated outside the team hotel setting off fireworks trying to keep the rival players awake before the big game.
Jo Lewis and partner Gary Taylor said it they spent horrendous few hours in and around an official FanFest. Jo feared for her life. And Gary, who has attended hundreds of Spurs and England matches said: “Mexico City was the worst – 100 percent the worst experience of all the matches I’ve ever been.”
Jo and Gary visited Mexico City for the opening game last month – before heading to Dallas to support England. They described chaotic scenes in the Fanfest. The couple, from Harold Wood, Essex said they wanted all England fans to be aware of the issues. They said policing, security and organisation were severely lacking compared to the United States.
Jo, 44, who works in logistics for an oil and gas company, said: “People with children, with babies were all getting crushed. It was terrible No-one cared. People getting crushed everywhere. It took us four hours to get into the fanzone.
“I was swept in on a surge of grown adults into a small doorway area – my feet weren’t even on the floor – and I couldn’t even see Gary and I started to panic. We weren’t together and that was petrifying for me. This was the worst experience of my life. My hands were trembling for at least an hour afterwards.”
Gary, 64, an estate agent, said: “We went together to Mexico to see the Azteca stadium and to experience the Mexican fans. We arrived in the main square. There was so many people. It was chaotic. There must have been a two or three mile queue just to get to the fanzone.
“There was just one entrance which was, perhaps, the size of two double garage doors. It was frightening. Literally 10,000 people squeezing though that gap. It was madness absolute madness.”
The Azteca stadium is one of the most iconic venues in world cup history. It’s where Diego Maradona scored his infamous ‘hand of god’ goal in 1976. And it hosted the final in 1970 when Pele and his Brazil side won the World Cup with one of the greatest sides of all time.
