SPRINGFIELD, VIRGINIA – Imagine you are organising a major global event and one of its showpiece fixtures is taking place between a host nation and one of the major countries. Two days before the match, you consider significantly changing the time of the game.
Would you consider it appropriate to say anything at all or just silently vibe it? I know you think the answer is obvious, but hold that thought. We’ll loop back.
The leaks started on Friday afternoon UK time, less than 60 hours before kick off in England’s last-16 match. Fifa, it was reported, were intent upon moving the time of the match by six hours in Mexico City.
The reported reason, those leaks claimed, were the thunderstorms reportedly in the local area at the time of the match. Which seems extraordinary given that other games in this tournament have been delayed and predicting the time of localised thunderstorms 60 hours out from a match is pretty much guesswork.
At the same time, Mexican media were claiming that the issue was not weather but English broadcasters demanding that the match be moved to early evening in the UK to allow more people to watch it on TV. Which sounds even more risible. The BBC strenuously rejected those stories.
If that leaves you feeling perplexed, spare a thought for England supporters. In England, people rushed to change shift work and make new plans at late notice. But those who were travelling into Mexico from the US or UK on the morning of the match were left floundering for alternative travel options. In WhatsApp groups that the most dedicated England fans converse with each other, there was outright panic. And understandably so.
It wasn’t just those of an England persuasion confused and uncertain. Mexico manager Javier Aguirre went public, telling local media that “the schedule change hits like a kick in the stomach. We have to change the entire plan. I don’t like it at all.”
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By late Friday night – although so late that most in the UK would have gone to sleep assuming the change of time was legit – the story had been scaled back. Most outlets reported that Fifa decided against releasing a statement changing the time after Mexican and English officials declared themselves unimpressed.
Let’s return to the intro paragraph. In this game, you are Fifa (thoughts with you) and, sorry, you chose the silent vibing option. By 8pm EST – 1am Saturday in the UK – the sum total of Fifa’s official response to the question of when the match would start is here.
There was no story on their website or on the news section of their media site. None of their social media accounts had clarified or offered information to travelling fans, Mexican or English. The last Mexican supporters heard was their national team manager telling them his team had changed their plans.
Instead, we got updates through continued leaks to journalists, presumably coming from Fifa sources. That was amusingly epitomised by Kaveh Solhekol of Sky Sports leaving a typo in his post on X: “Fifa we will continue to monitor the weather”.
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Pete Hall: Man Utd insiders ‘bewildered’ by Kobbie Mainoo’s lack of England minutes Kevin Garside: England have their own Michael Olise but he is stuck on the benchUsing journalists to provide information to supporters is an appropriate way of delivering news in certain scenarios. The potential change to the kick-off time in a major World Cup match, when the players and managers include those left clueless, is not one of those scenarios.
Supporters deserved certainty and transparency. If discussions were happening, say so directly. If negotiations were starting, tell everybody. Travelling England supporters in the USA that The i Paper spoke to late on Friday evening expressed deep frustration and being left in a position where they were refreshing social media in search of answers. It summed up how Fifa sees matchgoing fans, they said.
We ended up back where we started; don’t know what anyone was fretting about. Classic Fifa business as usual: millions of people changing plans, thousands of matchgoing supporters panicked and desperate for information that never came, dozens of elite professionals not knowing when their next game would actually start. Well done boys, good process.
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