The stars aren’t the only thing to keep an eye on in the highly anticipated clash between Mexico and England in Mexico City for the World Cup’s round of 16. The weather report isn’t far behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As is the case in Mexico City during the summer months, thunderstorms are always possible. And as both teams prepare to square off on Sunday, July 5 at 8 p.m. ET for a chance at the FIFA World Cup 2026 quarterfinals, the forecast could change on a dime.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice, and the rest of the Three Lions’ squad are looking to upend the homefield advantage that Ra\u00fal Jim\u00e9nez, Juli\u00e1n Qui\u00f1ones, and El Tri will have in front of more than 87,000 fans at an altitude of 7,200-plus feet.<\/p>\n
(Photo by Hector Vivas – FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n Whether there’s a “Hand of God” moment waiting in the wings depends first on when the game will be played. Currently, the game is still scheduled to get rolling with no delays. Mexico’s round of 32 win over Ecuador had a delay on Tuesday due to storms, and there’s always the chance this could be the case on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to FOX Weather, the forecast for the game is 64 degrees with a chance of thunderstorms. The ROWI (Risk of Weather Impact) is high.\u00a0<\/p>\n Those storms could intensify \u2013 or dissipate \u2013 as the afternoon rolls on, but in the event there is a lightning strike, there is a mandatory shelter-in-place, with teams returning to the locker room.\u00a0<\/p>\n Play is suspended immediately if lightning is detected within an \u200beight-mile radius \u200bof a \u2060stadium and can only resume after 30 minutes have passed without \u200ba further occurrence.<\/p>\n Like in other sports, a countdown starts after lightning, and there would need to be no other lightning in the area after those conditions before the match can safely be back on. Any new lightning detection \u200bresets \u2060the countdown, meaning delays can stretch for several hours if thunderstorms persist.\u00a0<\/p>\n FIFA has no fixed \u2060time \u200blimit after which a \u200bmatch must be abandoned, with each situation assessed on a \u200bcase-by-case basis.<\/p>\n The France vs. Iraq group stage game in Philadelphia on June 23 was suspended mid-match for two hours due to weather. France was leading Iraq 1-0 when the suspension occurred, with Les Bleus winning 3-0 once play resumed.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Mexico vs. Ecuador round of 32 game in Mexico City on June 30 was delayed for one hour due to weather. Mexico defeated Ecuador 2-0 once the action got underway.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY The stars aren’t the only thing to keep an eye on in the highly anticipated clash between Mexico and England in Mexico City for the World Cup’s round of 16. The weather report isn’t far behind.\u00a0 As is the case in Mexico City during the summer months, thunderstorms are always possible. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}