On Sunday, Mexico will take on England at Mexico City’s famed Estadio Azteca for a round of 16 World Cup match in one of the most hotly anticipated contests of the tournament so far.
But days before anything goes down on the pitch, Mexico and England fans have already started bickering with each other online — from cheeky jabs to heated debates about which country does beans on toast better.
Joining in on the soccer smack talk are two of the biggest rock stars from the countries — Liam Gallagher of Oasis fame and Maná frontman Fher Olvera.
The beef kicked off Wednesday morning when Gallagher replied to a fan question on X about the possibility of England playing Mexico on their home turf before the Three Lions sealed their win against DR Congo.
“Liam how do you feel about England being crushed at the azteca,” the X user @angelchilddemo asked.
Gallagher answered by writing, “I think we’ll beat Mexico 5-0.”
The “Wonderwall” singer’s prediction was so audacious that Olvera took it upon himself to publicly respond with an Instagram video Wednesday evening.
“The singer of Oasis said that Mexico will lose to England 5-0,” Olvera said in Spanish with a giant grin on his face while draped in a Mexican flag. “No way! Check yourself dude! 5 to 0? Calm down! We’ll see you Sunday to see how it goes, dude. Don’t play with me.”
By Thursday morning Gallagher amended his prediction for the match.
“[L]et me just clear someting up I was obv kidding when I said England will beat Mexico 5-0,” the English rocker wrote in an X post. “I reckon it’ll be more like 3-0 to England.”
While Olvera and Gallagher will be at odds over the next few days, the two singers shared parallel experiences as Maná was one of the bestselling Mexican rock bands of the ‘90s and Oasis was the bestselling British rock group of the ‘90s.
Maná already made its mark on this year’s World Cup when it played its 1992 hit “Oye Mi Amor” at the tournament’s opening ceremony in Mexico City ahead of the Mexico-South Africa match on June 11.
Sunday’s contest between England and Mexico also marks the first time the English side will play at Estadio Azteca since the 1986 World Cup when they lost to eventual-champions Argentina in a quarterfinal game infamous for Diego Maradona‘s “Hand of God” goal.
The last time Mexico and England squared off in a World Cup setting was during the 1966 World Cup in England where the Three Lions beat El Tri 2-0 in a group stage match at Wembley Stadium.
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