Kane urges fans to celebrate at sunrise as FIFA kick-off chaos forces pubs to scramble

Harry Kane called on England fans to embrace a sunrise celebration as anger mounted over FIFA’s repeated changes to the kick-off time for England’s World Cup match against Mexico in Mexico City, with pub landlords and travelling supporters bearing the brunt of the disruption.

“I think everyone would love nothing more than to be celebrating as the sun’s rising at 5, 6am,” Kane said, acknowledging the frustration while urging fans to stay positive. He also welcomed the news that pubs across England would be staying open specially for the fixture.

The scheduling chaos caused havoc across the hospitality industry. Landlords who had organised staffing rotas for a 1am kick-off were forced to restructure for a 7pm start, only for FIFA to reverse the decision and revert to the original time. Adam Curtis, landlord of The Cock Inn in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, was blunt in his criticism. “What a joke — we make all these plans for a 1am kick-off, which takes a lot of organisation, then it’s changed to 7pm so we get staffing organised for that. Then they change it back again. There’s no thought at all given to the impact their decision making has.”

More than 500,000 fans are expected to watch the game across 6,000 pubs that have chosen to remain open, with an estimated 17 million pints set to be served across 30,000 pubs throughout Sunday.

Travelling supporters were equally frustrated. Owen Pickering, a father of seven from Crawley, West Sussex, who has spent £20,000 on his World Cup trip, said the time change nearly cost him his place in the stadium. “FIFA is rubbish; it’s awful. They have no thought about anyone travelling to the game,” he said. Pickering’s itinerary — flying to Orlando, then Tampa, before connecting to Mexico City — meant he would not land until 11am local time, leaving him with barely enough time to reach the ground before the original 1am UK kick-off. “With matchday traffic we would have missed it and I would have been heartbroken really.”

Some Texas-based England fans went further, changing their flights when the kick-off was moved to 7pm, only to have to change them back after FIFA’s U-turn.

Even Mexico head coach Javier Aguirre weighed in, describing the scheduling changes as “a kick in the stomach.”

England’s squad arrived at their Mexico City hotel to an unusual reception: hundreds of police in riot gear providing a security cordon, while local supporters greeted the players with chants of “Mexico, Mexico, Mexico” as they walked through the lobby.