How England can handle the ‘mental bomb’ of the Azteca: Fireworks, fire alarms and worse

Norman Darcy, a former performance director for U.S. Soccer and the German Football Association, is talking about the mindset required when a team steps into the Azteca.

“It is a little bit like the Shackleton experiment,” says Darcy. Ernest Shackleton, an Irish explorer, is remembered mainly for the 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition — which aimed to be the first to cross Antarctica, but his vessel Endurance was trapped and then lost in sea-ice. This turned a great explorer into a great survivor, as the expedition went down in legend for the extraordinary escape by those on board and a heroically safe return.

Ahead of his quest, Shackleton put out one of the all-time great job postings: “Men Wanted for Hazardous Journey. Small Wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.”

This, Darcy says, is one way for England’s players to visualize what awaits in Mexico City on Sunday night, where a passionate and talented Mexico team seek to reach their third quarter-final in World Cup history.

OK, England’s players may not be encountering small wages, or bitter cold; but they will be hit by the elements, including daunting altitude, competing at 7,220ft above sea level, and a home nation which has, over the years, been suspected of gamifying every possible advantage.

Last week, Ecuador fell victim to Mexico’s on-field and off-field exploits; comprehensively defeated on the pitch in the round of 32, but also disturbed in their sleep by fans playing loud music, revving vehicle engines, honking horns and setting off fireworks close to the Ecuadorean team hotel. Ecuador’s federation filed a complaint, arguing that this behavior “falls far short of the principles of fair play, equity, and unity that a football World Cup should represent.”

In bygone years, those boundaries have been pushed even further. Charlie Davies, the former United States forward, scored a goal at the stadium in 2009 and looked up to see “coins, bottles and batteries” being thrown at him. Davies’ former USMNT team-mate Jozy Altidore has claimed a television was once thrown at the team bus and, on one occasion entering the stadium, he claims to have been struck by a “bag of pee.”

“I get to the bench, it’s starting to stink, a little itch … I’m sitting there like ‘They really throw pee!’” Altidore told KRLD-FM, a Dallas-based radio station. “We didn’t have any extra shirts so I had to sit in that for 60 minutes … it was disgusting and nasty but it is real out there.”

Since the stadium was adjusted, reducing the capacity, raising prices and adding suites, the atmosphere has become a little less intimidating. But it remains one of the most lionized amphitheaters in world soccer.

Over the years, many have been beaten at the Azteca. Mexico has never lost at the venue across 10 World Cup games. They have conceded only four goals at the stadium in the 2020’s. Mexico have played 89 matches at the Azteca and won 70 of those, drawing 17 and losing only two. The team is unbeaten there since 2013, although it is worth remembering that the majority of Mexico’s opponents have been low-ranking CONCACAF sides.

According to Darcy, now a performance consultant at MLS team Chicago Fire, preparation is key. “Some people go for the Shackleton idea,” he says. “Make the expectations way worse than what you’re going to face. Go through the mental exercise of all the potential difficulties. Think of the worst crowds you’ve ever played in, the noisiest stadiums, so that when you do get into the mix, you’ve already gone through that exercise and it’s not somebody dropping a mental bomb on you to the extent it takes you out of your game.

“Preparation builds confidence. Just like the military, if we do all these pre-mortems and we work through all these potential problems, then when we get there, we’ve worked through 90 per cent of the stuff we’re gonna face so that if we face something unique and unprepared, we can really give focus to that. Otherwise, we’re just falling to our level of preparation.”

That preparation can start months in advance, both on the security and operations side, but also for those specializing in the optimization of player performance.

The U.S. has, over the years, drawn up a whole host of measures for visits to Mexico, as well as other particularly hostile Central American nations, including Honduras and Costa Rica, to ensure that the team is both prepared and secured.

When, for example, the U.S. played at the Azteca against Mexico in a World Cup qualifier in March 2022, conversations took place up to six months in advance with security experts at the U.S. embassy in Mexico to ensure there was a level of co-operation and trust between the visiting team and the local police.

According to multiple current and former U.S. Soccer personnel, who asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships, there was a previous case where the police escort provided to the U.S. team appeared to lead the team into more traffic by taking a more circuitous route to the stadium. To this day, it is not known or proven if it was intentional. A regional security officer tied to the embassy will make a special assessment of risks and logistics, while the embassy also ensures there is a police escort for not only the team but also the luggage and belongings of the U.S. travelling party.

The choice of hotel also plays a part. In Mexico City, visiting teams tend to stay either close to the airport to allow a quick getaway, or downtown in the heart of the city. Ecuador stayed in the Westin Hotel in the Santa Fe neighborhood, away from the downtown area, but fans tracked down their location and caused disturbances in the night. The U.S. federation by now has a number of contingencies.

Ahead of the 2022 game, those safeguards included hiring security personnel to monitor fire alarms on guest floors at the team hotel. The federation also requested that the hotel block any domestic phone calls being received in hotel rooms housing the U.S. players, to avoid any prank calls in the early hours.

When travelling to hostile environments, soccer players, like many celebrities, are also assigned with fake names to their hotel rooms to prevent any calls or deliveries being made to their rooms. Performance expert Darcy says players would be provided with earplugs, including newly designed ones which allow people to rest their head on the pillow without it feeling uncomfortable on the ear. “It can also add white noise to help dampen outside effects,” he says.

Visiting teams, particularly from wealthy nations who have the means to pay for it, will also request the most secluded rooms in the hotel, and away from the street side to minimize noise exposure.

Surveillance cameras were also placed on the team floors of the hotel, as well as in the lobby and meeting rooms, and local media were only permitted in the team hotel for official press events, while fans were barred from the premises altogether. Multiple officials say that players are advised, outside of training sessions, to remain in the hotel complexes at all times to avoid any risk of altercations or safety risks in public. The local U.S. embassy is also asked to make a judgment, which varies across Central America and the Caribbean, as to whether a risk assessment requires a bomb sweep of every room.

Darcy says: “You’re definitely trying to mitigate as many risks as possible and some people could call it even paranoia potentially. But I’ve heard no shortage of stories, especially more so in the olden days. If you got one upset sous chef who doesn’t like who they’re feeding and they want to put something in the hamburger and give everybody upset stomachs, that is all possible. I’ve heard stories of that happening in the past.”

 

¡ABRAN PASO, YA LLEGARON LOS INGLESES! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

La Selección de Inglaterra ya llegó a su hotel en la Ciudad de México a unas horas del duelo ante el TRI en el Estadio Azteca. 🇲🇽@rosales54462 pic.twitter.com/ktnl8xPESx

— DIARIO RÉCORD (@record_mexico) July 4, 2026

Nowadays, the wealthiest nations bring their own chefs on tour with the teams. The U.S. and almost certainly England will have a contractual arrangement with the hotel, allowing the federation to completely control the kitchen, or at the very least have an observer present at all times. The U.S. even mandated in 2022 that all fruit and vegetables must be cooked or peeled to be consumed, as it is less likely to have contaminants on the surface that could be ingested. The U.S. also brings in bottled water, once again eliminating any risk even if it is minimal.

The off-field gamesmanship can vary, depending on the visiting team, the sense of occasion and, frankly, the mood of the home fans. One challenge, however, is consistent: altitude. This means thinner air, which means fewer oxygen molecules are produced with each breath. According to Alan McCall, The Athletic’s performance expert, “less oxygen reaches the working muscles, recovery between intense efforts slows, and repeated high-intensity actions become harder to sustain. Sprint, press, change direction sharply, and the next sprint becomes harder to repeat with the same quality and intensity.”

Julian Exposito, head of the academy at Club Tigres, told The Athletic the thinner air also has a performance impact on the play itself. “The ball travels differently, moving faster and covering greater distances than when playing at sea level,” he says. This was visible when Uzbekistan played Colombia at the venue earlier in the World Cup, where the team competed well physically but passes kept going out of play, while Colombia’s James Rodriguez found his set-piece radar off target that night too.

To mitigate this, the U.S. team in 2022 sourced oxygen tanks from local hospitals in Mexico City to keep pitchside on the substitute’s bench, as well as in the locker rooms, in order to have oxygen on hand for any players who may need it. The U.S. has also previously prepared for games at the Azteca by acclimatising with training camps at altitude within the United States, including in Denver in Colorado and Big Bear Lake in California. The rhythm and schedule of a World Cup does not allow England such privileges. Similarly, for 4-6 weeks ahead of the U.S. game against Mexico, which the team drew 0-0, players had the option of sleeping in altitude chambers for which had been shipped to their home.

Performance specialist Darcy, who worked with U.S. Soccer at the time, says: “The level of altitude sensitivity can be different for everybody. Usually it’s just a shortness of breath for activities where you do not normally feel that way. So if you were to quickly do accelerations or go up some stairs or try to do any kind of prolonged effort, you would feel a higher sense of effort to do the same amount of work.”

Once on the ground, he says there are supplements and diet choices which can enhance an athlete’s chances of positive performance. Beet juice is encouraged for oxidative purposes, within two to three hours of competition, while cherry juice is used afterwards to aid with recovery.

He adds: “You also want to check that a player’s blood work is in good order because typically if Vitamin D and Ferritin are low, then people tend to struggle at altitude. If you were low you would take a WADA-approved supplement to try and up your system to make sure you’re at normal levels.”

But when the game begins, it is down to the players.