The travels of Tim and Megan: England v Mexico, Wembley

Wembley

On Monday evening, Tim met up with Neena, Kristen, Ed, Kirsteen and Daggy to watch England v Mexico in an international football match at Wembley. With the football World Cup fast approaching, this was England’s last warm-up match at home. Tim had never been to Wembley before, so it was very exciting. And London turned on a stunning day of sunshine, pushing up towards 30 degrees.

The match looked like being a competitive one too, with Mexico ranked 17th in the world, compared to England’s 8th. The sun was pouring down on us as we wandered up “Wembley Way” towards the famous stadium and we stopped off to grab burgers and chips. It took us a while to get in to the stadium, but once we were in, it was brilliant.

The English FA had strategically left T-shirts (either red or white) on every seat, so that when the crowd put their T-shirts on, the entire stadium was turned into an enormous England flag – the red St George’s cross on the white background only broken by a small patch of green in the away fans’ corner. The match was a sell-out and we were informed that the official crowd figure was 88,638. Very nice.

Both sides fielded pretty strong line-ups and the first half, in particular, was good quality football, with plenty of chances for both sides. Mexico actually looked the stronger side for much of the first half, yet it was England who took a 2-0 lead after 35 minutes. Mexico squandered two one-on-one chances and also hit the post, before eventually scoring a goal right on the stroke of halftime to trail 2-1 at the break.

The second half was a little disjointed, as is often the case in “friendly” matches, as both sides made a lot of substitutions. England scored a brilliant goal just after the break and then looked in control after that to secure a 3-1 win. The highlights were a couple of cracking saves from England goalkeeper, Robert Green, a brilliant goal from Glenn Johnson and a couple of examples of Wayne Rooney’s world class skills.

My verdict for the World Cup: Mexico will make the knock-out stage and that will be it. They are fast and skilful but lack height and are not clinical enough in front of goal. England…quarter-finals at best, possibly only knock-out stage. Defence far too shaky and a better side would have ripped them apart.

Getting out of Wembley and waiting to get on the train home took a while, although we were amused by a very drunk soldier and his mate, who were singing “Two Little Boys” just in front of the police barricade. All in all, a fun night out and another world famous stadium to add to the list.

Wembley: 9.5/10
Wayne Rooney: 9/10
Mexican fans: 10/10
Chicken burger: 7/10
Drunken soldier: 10/10