England meet Mexico in the World Cup round of 16 tonight.
The Three Lions head to a potentially stormy Estadio Azteca on Sunday looking to defy one of the best records in international football and book their place in the quarter-finals.
Mexico have only lost two out of 89 previous competitive games at their high-altitude fortress in the capital Mexico City, which sits more than 2,000 metres above sea level.
The last of those defeats came all the way back in September 2013, which rather sums up the scale of the task facing England against one of the World Cup host nations, who are being backed by a passionate home crowd.
Fans of a certain age won’t need reminding of England’s last visit to the famous and formidable Azteca, when the late Diego Maradona scored both the ‘Hand of God’ and arguably the greatest goal in tournament history within the space of just four second-half minutes as eventual champions Argentina won a highly-charged quarter-final tie at Mexico 1986.
It is an extremely difficult challenge that Thomas Tuchel’s side certainly will not be overlooking, especially after they needed inspirational captain Harry Kane’s late brace to save them from a disastrous upset against DR Congo in Atlanta in the last 32 on Wednesday.
But if they did get past Mexico, who would England play next at the World Cup?
Who would England play next at World Cup if they beat Mexico?
If England do manage to beat Mexico and conquer the Azteca, they will seal a quarter-final spot at the World Cup for the third tournament in a row.
That would next take them to Miami Stadium on July 11, where they would be in line for a more palatable 10pm BST kick-off time on a Saturday night.
Their opponents for that match will be Norway, who beat Brazil 2-1 thanks to two Erling Haaland goals.
It will be Norway’s first ever World Cup quarter-final.
They beat Iraq and Senegal before being brushed aside by Les Bleus after Stale Solbakken made sweeping changes with progress to the knockout stages already secured on the country’s first World Cup appearance since 1998.
Haaland popped up with a late winner to down Ivory Coast in the last 32, teeing up a showdown with Brazil, with whom they drew during the group stage at France 98.
England have never played Norway at a major tournament and have faced them only twice in friendlies this century - winning 1-0 at Wembley in 2014 and in Oslo in 2012.
Brazil have now not beaten the Norwegians in five matches.
