England Manager Tuchel Tells Parents to Skip School for World Cup. A Minister Said No.

England manager Thomas Tuchel made a plea to parents after Wednesday’s win against the Democratic Republic of Congo. His message was simple: let the kids stay up.

Monday’s World Cup quarterfinal against Mexico kicks off at 1 a.m. British time. That’s a problem for school-age fans. Tuchel thinks it’s worth the exhaustion.

“Write an excuse for school and let them watch football,” Tuchel said shortly after the match. “There’s so much school to go to, but the World Cup is every four years. Let them watch.”

He added: “There will be a big, big match on in four days and we need the support of everyone, and especially of the children.”

Skills minister Baroness Jacqui Smith did not agree. Speaking to LBC’s Nick Ferrari at Breakfast on Thursday, she pushed back.

“I don’t want to be a killjoy here,” Smith said. “But I’ll tell you what the biggest killjoy is — young people who then don’t have the learning to be able to go on and do what they need to do in life.”

She said she plans to watch the match herself and take an afternoon nap beforehand. “I’ll be celebrating our victory the next morning when I go into work, looking obviously as fresh as a daisy.”

This is not a new debate. Schools and employers have shown England games in past tournaments when matches clashed with normal hours. A 1 a.m. kickoff is different though. There’s no way to screen it during lunch or shift a schedule a couple hours. It’s a middle-of-the-night scenario.

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, floated a compromise. He suggested a flexible start Monday morning instead of outright skipping school.

“It would be very good I think if the Secretary of State recognized that it’s an important event in our calendar and allow a flexible start on that Monday morning,” Kebede said. “These are such important events in our calendar, and it would be good if as many young people as possible could.”

None of this would be happening if not for Harry Kane. England were staring at one of the most humiliating exits in program history. Congo’s Brian Cipenga scored in the seventh minute, and England looked flat for most of the match. Kane bailed them out with a late double, setting up the showdown at Azteca Stadium against the co-hosts.

Now parents have a decision to make. Let the kids stay up for a 1 a.m. kickoff and deal with the fallout Monday morning. Or send them to bed and hope the neighbors don’t wake them up celebrating anyway.