Mexico v England | World Cup Round of 16 | 5 July 2026

jimmymelrose

Great! So Rice and Bellingham could get falsely booked with no VAR allowed to check, and then miss the semi final. Imagine then if you played the USA with Balogen on the field. FIFA bollox.

paulsturgess

jimmymelrose said:

paulsturgess said:

I was at the game.

Very, very rarely watch games more than once (can only really think of the 1966 WC final reruns and the 98 play off final!). But - I just finished watching back the BBC coverage of the game on my laptop. 

What a game. Good to see it on telly and realise how non-stop drama and thrilling it was and how unreal the atmosphere was - as when you're there yourself you sometimes wonder if people are seeing or experiencing the same thing or it's as intense as it feels to you. Seeing the looks of dread on the faces, and everyone's reactions at the sending off, the penalty... having to endure that 40+ mins of just hanging on, hanging on.. 

Going to the game was incredible; I would choose Charlton over England 99 times out of 100 and it's incredibly hard to compare the experiences like play off final wins (which mean way more to me) Vs England, who frankly (and perversely, given I've travelled to the WC following them!) I am not that bothered about really - however, this was a pretty unrivalled football experience and day in so many ways.

The atmosphere - I imagine there are louder/ more aggressive/ intimidating atmospheres, endless chants etc - but I have never come across one like this with just so many Mexicans just not even singing or chanting but making noise non-stop, waving their flags non stop for 2 hours before the game and then during...

AND THEN - after all that - after the game hundreds of them at the ground, leaving the ground, in the bars, back in the city on the streets, wherever you went - all congratulating us like they were genuinely pleased for us and wishing us to win the tournament. I remember being told Mexico City was the most dangerous city in the world when I was kid, i went before in 2016 and again now and it's really hard to believe that!

Aside from being at the match itself, I felt genuinely emotional seeing how people at home experienced it, pictures and messages from mates etc all living it in the middle of the night on a Sunday/Monday! Absolutely surreal and once again - all the negativity around the tournament beforehand, very very justified hatred of FIFA, Trump etc etc etc and people boycotting BUT, in spite of them, nonetheless... the World Cup is unrivalled in how it brings people together... 

Really hope after all this we follow it up on Saturday in what I think could be a really hard game back in the intense heat!

(and a PS to temper all the positivity of this post... fark me I loathe the Argentines so much, utterly classless horrid arrogant bastards, must be the most widely-hated nation...every time I come across them they are obnoxious... hope we complete the HoG redemption process and thrash those scummers in the Semi).

Great post spoilt by a sad, classless, horrid rant at the end. By Argentinian brother in law, who’s a really kind, hardworking, friendly, football loving, family guy congratulated me for our win by the way. 

I hate national stereotypes. Most confusion and misunderstanding comes from language barriers.

Ironic that you refer to is classless as that is the manner in which most Argentinians I have come across at this tournament and previous ones have behaved. Both last night and the other day for the Egypt game I watched in bars with fans of both nations, and on both occasions the Argentinians needlessly and arrogantly goaded the good natured supporters of the other nations when they scored, and this is something I’ve witnessed at other tournaments and in general with Argentina, elements of racism, conduct of their fans players etc etc. i won’t quote Sir Alf Ramsay’s views on them. 

Contrast that with the Mexicans who I described above (and actually, in fairness, to our own fans at this tournament).

Well aware that of course all Argentinians are not horrible and I have met some lovely people when I have travelled around the country too - and sure your Brother in law is a charming fella… but sometimes stereotypes are founded in a semblance of genuine truth… they are rarely entirely fabricated… I’m also more than self-aware enough to recognise some of the stereotypes that are applied to us, which are of course also not universal but are also not entirely made up… we are far from perfect and frankly I can see why many people think we’re a nation of drunken louts but I’m not gonna take personal offence to that. 

I hate Argentina as a football entity, and their supporter base as a collective (noting that there will be many individuals within that collective who are alright). And I also hate Millwall in the same way. 

I hope we obliterate them on Wednesday… and if we do I can’t promise I won’t goad them back in spectacular hypocrisy 🤣