Sleep devices, secret location and help from karma: England’s plan for Mexico

When England return to the Azteca stadium for the first time since the day Maradona knocked them out of the 1986 World Cup, Tuchel believes karma will be in attendance as well.

England manager Thomas Tuchel. (FILE photo)

4 min readJul 3, 2026 08:55 AM IST First published on: Jul 3, 2026 at 08:55 AM IST

When England travel to Mexico for their Round of 16 clash at the FIFA World Cup, the name of their hotel will be a closely guarded secret. Why? Because the England team management has taken notes from the suffering of Ecuador, who had visited Mexico for their Round of 32 game last week. Ecuador players spent sleepless nights in the city before their game due to noisy Mexico supporters, who used loudspeakers, horns and motorcycles outside the team hotel (Hotel Westin) to disturb the travelling team.

After Ecuador were ousted, the federation even lodged an official complaint with FIFA.

Now England have drawn up plans to avoid a similar fate when they spend two nights in Mexico City before the game. According to a report on BBC, they include keeping the name of their hotel secret and using sleeping devices.

According to the report, the England team’s management will offer natural sleep remedies or white noise audio machines to any player who is not already travelling with their own sleeping devices, such as ear plugs or sleep bands, to ensure their sleep is not impacted by external forces such as boisterous Mexican fans.
England scraped through to the last 16 of the FIFA World Cup thanks to two late goals from Harry Kane which helped the Three Lions overhaul Congo’s 1-0 lead. But now they will need a lot more than an inspired Harry Kane when they face the co-hosts of the tournament, Mexico, on their home turf.

England boss Thomas Tuchel said they were also relying on karma to come through for them. Tuchel referenced the Hand of God goal from Diego Maradona at the 1986 World Cup against England at the Azteca. Maradona had turned the ball into the goal with his hand in an infamous incident. The goal, along with Maradona’s other goal where he dribbled past multiple England players to score a virtuoso goal, had led to England crashing out.

Now, when England return to the stadium for the first time since that day, Tuchel believes karma will be in attendance as well.

When Tuchel was asked at his press conference if the ‘Hand of God’ will be in the air 40 years on, he said: “Yes, it will reward us. We will get it back. It’s karma. Karma will come back for us. We will turn it around. I remember of course the World Cup of Maradona. The two goals against England — the one dribbling and the one which would never stand these days.”

Tuchel and England are also bracing themselves for the challenge of Azteca’s altitude.

The England vs Mexico game will be played more than 2,000 metres above sea level.

“We will go one night earlier [than usual and travel on Friday], it makes sense,” said Tuchel. “The ball will fly differently. It will fly maybe five yards more. It’s just difficult. We just need the experience. The recommendation is you either go 10 days before — which is too long for us — or last minute, which is not allowed.

“We have spoken to teams who do it and they say they travel very, very late on matchday if they cannot have time to adapt. It’s not possible so we find a mixture in between, but it will stay as a disadvantage.”