Jordan Henderson joked that England doesn’t need Viagra to boost their preparations against Mexico ahead of their Round of 16 FIFA World Cup match.
England will take on one of the tournament’s co-hosts in a crucial pre-quarterfinal clash at the iconic Estadio Azteca on Monday (Jul 6).
Earlier reports suggested that Thomas Tuchel’s side would be able to use the energy-enhancing drug to help combat the effects of the venue’s altitude, which sits more than 2,000m above sea level. After the head coach dismissed this rumour, Henderson later answered on how England is readying itself for this fixture, saying, “Well, the Viagra helped, I think… I’m joking!
“Players are very adaptable, really, and just get on with things,” Henderson said. “Like the kick-off time yesterday, whether we play at 12 pm or whether we play at 6 pm (local time), it doesn’t really bother us.
“We just come here to do our job, and that’s to be the best version of ourselves, to be together, to compete, to give everything for each other and the nation back home, to make them proud and to try to win a football game.
“Everything that we can’t influence, like kick-off times or altitude or stuff at the hotel, is not in our control, so we just have to find solutions, which we’re pretty good at.
“So for us it’s about full focus on our job ahead, no excuses.
Although the norm suggests it takes close to 10 days to acclimatise to higher altitudes where oxygen levels are usually low, Henderson admitted it took a bit of getting used to, having arrived two days before their kick-off against Mexico.
“You can feel it a little bit; you can feel something,” he said. “I felt it a little bit, even when you just land and you come to the hotel, and you’re just walking around, you can feel something.
“And then today, in training, for me personally, I felt that maybe in the first 10-15 minutes and then once training got going, I stopped thinking about it so much and just concentrated on training.
“So, hopefully when the game comes tomorrow, once the lads have done the warm-up and they’ve got going, then the full focus is just on the game, and that’s all the focus is on,” he continued.
While England will bank on its captain and star striker Harry Kane to guide them through, Mexico will have an army of nearly 90,000 home fans rooting for them to qualify for the last 8 for the first time since 1986.