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The England national team will limit its stay in Mexico City as much as possible to mitigate the effects of the Mexican capital's altitude, where they will face Mexico this coming Sunday at Estadio Azteca.
"Altitude is a great disadvantage because it is impossible to adapt in four days, but we will find answers," said the England manager, German Thomas Tuchel, after winning in Atlanta against the Democratic Republic of the Congo, thanks to two goals from Harry Kane.
The English team returned to its headquarters in Kansas City to prioritize player recovery after a match that pushed them to the limit.
England has opted to rely on the "36-hour window," the time during which the body does not yet severely suffer the consequences of playing at altitude.
The Three Lions played in Atlanta, at an altitude of about 300 meters, and will move to the 2,240 meters of Mexico City, which they believe gives a great advantage to Javier Aguirre's players.
To limit the consequences of hypoxia, England will travel late Friday evening and check into the Mexican capital at night. On Saturday, they will have a light training session at Cantera Pumas, and on Sunday, they will play the Round of 16 match of the 2026 World Cup against Mexico at 18:00 hours (00:00 GMT).
Mexico has won all three matches it has played in this World Cup at the Azteca, against teams that used different strategies to limit the effects of the altitude.
South Africa trained for 10 days beforehand at a higher altitude in Pachuca (2,460 meters). They lost 2-0. The Czech Republic waited until the day before and was thrashed 3-0, and Ecuador, which had a complicated 9-hour journey and reported that Mexican fans disrupted their players' sleep, also lost 2-0.
Following the announcement of the 36-hour window, it emerged on social media that the England team could keep the location of their accommodation in Mexico a secret, to prevent fans of the Mexican National Team from doing the same thing as with Ecuador, that is, serenading their hotel and preventing them from resting.
It has been reported that the English Football Association has requested that the players' location be kept secret so they can rest and adapt to the altitude of Mexico City.
[Publicidad]