At 7,350ft above sea level, England will struggle to rise to the challenge

Home advantage is a natural feature of World Cups. Six countries have won on their own soil and only twice has a host failed to get out of their group.

- Xavier Greenwood

But an altitude boost is of a different order. Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca, at 7,350ft above sea level, sits at an elevation that significantly affects performance. When Mexico play England at the stadium in the early hours of tomorrow, the home team will have a major advantage. However you cut it, this isn’t fair.

Players will take to a field that is twice as high as Snowdon, or Yr Wyddfa, and five times as high as the Empire State Building.

The percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere is constant whatever the altitude, but the drop in barometric pressure at greater heights pushes molecules further apart, which means every breath at the Azteca will take in roughly 23% less oxygen than at sea level.