British PM Keir Starmer pushed to keep England's World Cup win over Mexico from being moved up earlier in the day
President Donald Trump was not the only world leader working to put political pressure on FIFA.
As FIFA debated moving up the kickoff time of England's Round of 16 win against Mexico, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pushed to make sure the game in Mexico City stayed at its original kickoff time of 8 p.m. ET.
With thunderstorms in the forecast and FIFA reportedly looking at fan safety measures in the wake of multiple deaths in the celebrations after Mexico's Round of 32 win over Ecuador, reports emerged Friday that the game was in deep discussions to be moved up six hours to Noon local time.
Some reports even suggested that the time change was a done deal. It wasn't. And Starmer apparently played a key role.
Asked about Britain stepping in at a reception in Downing Street on Monday, Starmer told attendees: "We had to battle with the FA to get it back to where it was, which was counterintuitive."
Both the English and Mexican teams had publicly pushed back against the potential time change. Mexico coach Javier Aguirre talked about how it would disrupt his team's preparations.
The game ended up being delayed an hour by rain and began at 7 p.m. in Mexico City. England held on for much of the second half in the 3-2 win with just 10 men on the field after Jarell Quansah's straight red card.
Quansah is set to miss England's quarterfinal game against Norway because of that card, but there's already at least one member of parliament pushing for Quansah to receive the same treatment that the United States' Folarin Balogun received after Trump's push for FIFA to suspend Balogun's one-match ban.
