Five and a half hours that left England's World Cup tie in chaos

Uncertainty, chaos, anger and U-turns. England's World Cup last-16 tie against Mexico was plunged into limbo on Friday after a chaotic five-and-a-half-hour period that left everyone guessing. First Fifa was set to bring the match forward by six hours. Then there was anger from the English and Mexican football associations. And then the kick-off time stayed as it was.

England's seismic meeting against the co-hosts in Mexico City was suddenly shrouded in uncertainty. The match at the Azteca will now start, as originally planned, at 18:00 local time on Sunday - 01:00 BST on Monday. It means those in England will still need to either stay up late or set their alarm clocks to watch live on BBC One and iPlayer.

BBC Sport attempts to unpick exactly what happened during one of the World Cup's more baffling episodes.

18:30 BST - The drama begins

England fans were gearing up for a long overnight shift on Sunday to watch their last-16 tie against Mexico. Then reports started to emerge from Mexican journalists that Fifa was considering moving the kick-off forward six hours. The reason? Sources said it was because of storms forecast around the Azteca at the original kick-off time. Fifa was said to be concerned about the potential impact of lightning and flooding.

Were the celebrations in Mexico City which left four people dead, after the co-hosts last-32 victory over Ecuador, also part of the concern? It was hard to tell. Andres Vaca of radio station TUDN broke the story of the potential switch in kick-off time, leading to much bewilderment - and not just among the fans.

England's squad was wrapping up an open training session in Kansas when the first ripples were drifting across social media. The Football Association knew nothing about a potential schedule change when BBC Sport journalists began to raise questions. Information was chased. Sources briefed about the change. An official announcement from Fifa was said to be imminent. It would have been an unprecedented move. Then the fallout began.

20:00 BST - FA and Fifa locked in talks

It was not until around 20:00 BST that the Football Association was informed that Fifa was indeed intending to alter the kick-off time. The FA asked for more time to look into the plan and understand the reasoning. But that was just the start.

Behind the scenes, both national associations were locked in talks with Fifa. Both the English and Mexican governing bodies were angry that the change was being proposed less than 48 hours before kick-off. Among the issues raised were the impact on fan travel, the logistics of changing the staging of such a huge event at short notice, and the impact on the teams' preparations.

Meanwhile, England's players faced the media at their Kansas City training base. Morgan Rogers and Marcus Rashford had clearly been briefed on the news. They gave answers that showed calm, and an insistence that any change would not affect them. At about 21:30 BST, England boarded their chartered flight to Mexico City not knowing when the match would be.

In Mexico City, the co-hosts' manager Javier Aguirre was carrying out his media duties, calling the proposed changes a "kick in the gut". Reports in Mexico claimed the BBC was part of lobbying around the proposed kick-off change. A BBC spokesperson said the corporation was "not involved in these discussions".

22:00 BST - Start of the U-turn

Extreme weather has had to be a consideration going into this tournament. At last year's Club World Cup in the United States, there were six major weather delays in 63 matches. Sources continued to brief that, given the forecast, world football's governing body wanted to minimise disruption to teams, fans and media.

But, just as it seemed as if it was going to be a case of waiting for the kick-off change to be confirmed, reports emerged from Mexico media that Fifa was now considering a U-turn.