Dion Dublin
Former England striker on Football Daily

On playing in a hostile atmosphere and the impact if Mexico fans keep England players awake by making noise outside their hotel:

When the manager wants you to do a certain thing as a player, you need to get that done. If it's disrupted then things are gone. You know? What you wear, what time you have to be where, what you eat, what you drink...

We had it at Manchester United when we played against Galatasaray away. Fireworks, 'welcome to hell' and all that kind of stuff. We were absolutely terrified.

Their fans got into the hotel. They got on the same floor and knocked on the doors. That's more of an issue.

They can disrupt the players' food, what they drink, where they eat and sleep, everything changes, it really does.

Image source, Getty Images

Sami Mokbel
BBC Sport Senior football correspondent

Thomas Tuchel has dismissed concerns over England's treatment in Mexico as they prepare to face the World Cup co-hosts - saying it had been "nicer than I expected" and that home fans were "friendly and respectful".

Tuchel's side take on Mexico in a last-16 match that kicks off at 18:00 local time on Sunday (Monday 01:00 BST, live on BBC One, iPlayer and Radio 5 Live).

On Saturday, the team were met with a mixture of cheers and jeers from fans as they left their hotel for training under enhanced security measures in Mexico City.

Ecuador - beaten 2-0 by Mexico in the World Cup last 32 - lodged a noise complaint with Fifa after fans with loudspeakers, motorbikes and horns disrupted their sleep last week.

As a result, members of Mexico's National Guard are lining the entrance to England's hotel, while police officers in riot gear are stood next to barriers on the road outside.

Any Mexico fans who attempt to get close to the hotel are being moved on by police.

"We had no issues tonight and I think Fifa took care of the situation," head coach Tuchel said. "We have security around the hotel so we expect a good night's sleep.

"I don't want to talk about problems that don't exist yet. If they come, we will accept them. The best way to approach is to be relaxed and calm.

"We have a six o'clock kick-off, so if we miss some hours of sleep we will have time to get some other hours in the late morning.

"What I experienced until now was very respectful and emotional and very supportive towards our teams, so we are very respectful towards everyone. We expect to be treated with respect and that was the case.

"It was even nicer than I expected."

Tuchel said he had felt the energy in Mexico City.

"It just catches you straight away once you land here and saw the excitement and the emotions," he said.

"This will be a proper World Cup match. We are in an iconic place, an iconic stadium and a massive knockout game.

"It is a big stage and we feel it. It makes you sharper and brings the best out of you. It makes you feel alive."

Image source, Getty Images

Thomas Tuchel has been speaking overnight about the mammoth task that lies ahead for his England team, describing their World Cup last-16 tie against Mexico is 'an iconic match, in an iconic stadium, in an iconic country'.

Check out the video below...more of Tuchel's quotes are coming up...

You can check out exactly how you can follow Mexico v England on the BBC via this link, or stick with us and we will spell it out in this page in a moment...

Mexico v England in the last 16 of the 2026 World Cup kicks off at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City at 01:00 BST, all being well, if the thunderstorms stay away.

What's your strategy for watching the big game?:

• Stay up all night and power on through?
• An early sleep and 1am alarm call?
• Or do you plan to go to bed as normal and either watch the highlights over breakfast or take in the full game as live from 07:10 BST?

Whatever you decide, the BBC has you covered - whether that's watching the game on BBC One or iPlayer, listening to 5 Live commentary on BBC Sounds or following our live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app.

Please get in touch to tell us your big-match plans using the 'Get Involved' button, and how you are coping with the pre-match nerves.

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Welcome back.

Excited?

Stick with us this morning and into the afternoon as we build up to the big game...

That is all the action from last night ticked off.

• France survive Paraguay's 'disgraceful' and 'embarrassing' dark arts
• Mbappe scores again
• Morocco make Africa proud
• Canada golden generation loses its shine

Time for a quick pause- we’ll be back at 10:00 BST to start building up to England’s last‑16 meeting with Mexico.

Emma Smith
BBC Sport

In a meeting of two sides currently blessed by golden generations of talent, it was the Moroccans who shone.

For Canada, injured Alphonso Davies was helpless on the bench as Morocco neutralised Stephen Eustaquio's dangerous passing and squeezed star striker Jonathan David out of the game.

Meanwhile, Morocco captain Achraf Hakimi, arguably the world's best right back, was a constant menace both on the ball and in the Canadian players' faces, while creative fulcrum Brahim Diaz claimed two assists. He now has four in World Cups – the most of any African player.

"The first half was very intense," Morocco manager Mohamed Ouahbi told his post-match media conference.

"There were a few adjustments to be made at half-time. We were never safe from pressure.

"What matters is we didn't change our identity, we didn't change our game philosophy. There were lots of ideas being thrown around and we took the best one.

"We are playing the World Cup which means there will be difficult moments. What matters is when we are not at our best, we have to be resilient. We have to remember who we are playing for and what we are playing for."

It was more than enough to take Morocco to a second successive men's World Cup quarter-final, progressing through five matches as they did in Qatar.

Morocco have now won four World Cup knockout matches - two in 2022, two in 2026 – which is as many as all other African nations combined.

One more win, and they will have officially matched their showing at the 2022 World Cup, where they became the first African nation ever to reach the semi-finals.

So Morocco are contenders, although there remains a feeling they have not been tested to their full capabilities yet.

They impressed in drawing with Brazil in their opening game, before contrasting wins over Scotland and Haiti – the first a hard-fought slog following a goal inside two minutes, the latter a frenetic 4-2 against free-wheeling, already eliminated foes.

In the round of 32, they were the better team against Netherlands but needed a stoppage-time header to avoid elimination. Then against Canada they were eventually comfortable, but it was not a high-quality win to assuage doubters ahead of a possible meeting with France in the last eight.

Image source, Getty Images

David Edgar
Former Canada defender on BBC Radio 5 Live

Jesse Marsch signed a new four-year deal leading up to the World Cup and we have gone on to have this successful campaign.

Hopefully this can be the stepping stone for Canadian football to move on to bigger and better things.

It has been quite doom and gloom for pretty long so to have us come out of this with the world's respect in football, I think has been a massive achievement for Canada and for Jesse Marsch and the team.

The fans in the game travelled down to Houston and paid their hard-earned money to go to Los Angeles last week as well.

You've galvanised a young generation who have the Stephen Eustaquio moment from last week to go and do it in the park themselves like we did as kids. Now they have someone to look up to.

Hopefully we will see it in not in the next five or six months but in the years and years to come.

For the second time, Canada were in the strange situation of playing on foreign soil in a home World Cup - and their supporters were outnumbered by Morocco fans in Texas.

Yet they stepped up to the challenge with high tempo and pressing, leaving Morocco looking stunned at times in the first half.

But Canada, for all their effort, lacked the quality to break down the solid Moroccan defence as Juventus striker David ended his below-par tournament on another quiet note.

Another member of what has been dubbed Canada's golden generation did not even get off the bench. Their captain and talisman, Bayern Munich winger Alphonso Davies, was an unused sub.

Davies has struggled with a hamstring injury and while he came on in the last 32 against South Africa, he was not fit enough to make an impact here.

Marsch said Davies had an MRI scan - which came back clear - after training on Friday.

"The good news was there was no injury," he added. "But his hamstring didn't feel right. We wanted to be cautious and make sure we weren't risking anything."

Image source, Getty Images

"Morocco were just not at their very best, and there are tougher tests to come," said BBC 5 Live pundit Chris Sutton.

"They surprised me with their lethargy at the start. I don't know whether there was a bit of arrogance in dismissing the Canada team. Something was amiss with their performance.

"Morocco were never going to perform as badly in the second half. The longer the game went on, the stronger they became.

"They are devastating on the counterattack. But if France get through and Morocco perform like they did in the first half against a team like France, they will be crushed."

Yet there is no question that this Moroccan side have a better chance to become Africa's first ever world champions than any other side in history.

Morocco's success is not overnight. The one thing underpinning the North Africans' success has been long-term investment backed by the country's King Mohammed VI.

An academy and $65m (£48.7m) training complex, both bearing his name, opened in 2009 and 2019 respectively and have helped the Atlas Lions establish themselves as Africa's top-ranked side.

"Everything that is happening right now in Moroccan football is thanks to Mohammed VI," Ouahbi said. "He has invested a lot in the last few years, especially this academy."

After reaching three out of four World Cups between 1986 and 1998, Morocco went 20 years without qualifying. This investment turned around their fortunes and allowed them to recruit players from the diaspora abroad – like Hakimi and Diaz, both born in Spain.

It has given Morocco a competitiveness and belief which has become the blueprint for other African and Arabic nations, and it gives them a different aura to four years ago.

"It's not a surprise, we are no longer a surprise as of today," Ouahbi said. "When people talk about Morocco they talk about a real contender, a major footballing nation and it's a great source of pride.

"It's only the beginning and I hope we can continue to have similar World Cup runs for many years. We want to keep going, we don't want to stop."

While the run in Qatar was twinged with disbelief, their journey in North America has been infused with purpose.

A football fairytale, this is not.

Image source, Getty Images

Chris Sutton
Former England forward on BBC Radio 5 Live

Morocco took off in Houston in the second half. They picked their moments.

Azzedine Ounahi with a couple of brilliant finishes.

Tougher tests to come for Morocco but it is job done and they are the first team into the quarter-finals.

With the United States celebrating Independence Day, fireworks were expected from these two teams after their thrilling round-of-32 clashes, but attacking excitement was sorely missing in the opening 45 minutes.

There was still some spark, albeit for the wrong reasons, with this the first World Cup match on record (since 1966) to see more yellow cards (6) than shots (5) at half-time.

This clash was also only the second knockout match at the finals to see six first-half yellow cards, with Brazil’s 3-0 win over Ghana in 2006 the other instance (also six).

The eight cautions by full-time was the most in any match at this year’s tournament.

Image source, Getty Images

Morocco have become the first African nation ever to reach the quarter-finals of two World Cup tournaments (2022 and 2026).