Storm threat clouds England’s World Cup last-16 trip to Mexico City

England’s next World Cup date with Mexico City is listed for 1am BST on Monday, with thunderstorms threatening to force another reshuffle in a tournament already stretching match operations across North America. England reached the knockout rounds by beating DR Congo 2-1 in Atlanta on Wednesday 1 July, and the schedule now puts Thomas Tuchel’s side into one of the event’s most awkward kick-off slots.

The 2026 tournament runs from 11 June to 19 July and has 104 games scheduled, with England drawn in Group L alongside Croatia, Ghana and Panama. A start time in the small hours of the British morning underlines how far organisers are pushing the logistics of a continent-wide competition, where weather risk in one city can quickly collide with television timing, team travel and stadium planning in another.

That pressure has become more visible around England’s last-16 trip to Mexico City, where reports of thunderstorms prompted discussion about moving the match against Mexico. The front pages were published before any final kick-off decision was confirmed, leaving the game caught between the weather forecast and the tournament’s need to keep the schedule moving.

The same papers were also led by a Westminster row over Ed Miliband and the Great British Energy Bill. Peers backed Lord Alton of Liverpool’s amendment by 177 votes to 127, and the proposed change would stop public money being used to buy products from companies where there is credible evidence of modern slavery in the supply chain. The government is expected to whip MPs to vote against the Lords amendment when the bill returns to the House of Commons.

Miliband has said some of the solar panels for the government’s rooftop rollout will come from China, which is estimated to supply about 80% of the world’s solar panels. The row has landed in the middle of a broader press campaign over net-zero policy. Carbon Brief counted 61 editorials directly criticising Miliband in 2024, including 45 published after the general election on 4 July 2024, with The Sun, the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph among the most frequent critics.