In the mighty Azteca where this jamboree kicked off a fortnight ago Mexico went through the motions against Czechia in what was not so much a football match as a lap of honour.
This co-host nation for 2026 were already the first to clinch qualification for the knockout stages as uncatchable leaders of Group A. Stars could be rested, restless squad members given their taste of the magic.
So only the Czechs had something tangible to play for. Right? Not in a far broader and infinitely more distressing scheme of things.
When Mexico play World Cup ties the daily murder rate falls in this beautiful but crime-beset country. It drops to only around 30 every 24 hours. A triumph, apparently, in high places, since the average homicide tally so far this year is 70 a day.
Normally this reduction in fatalities applies only when El Tri are victorious. Lose and the grim toll rises. As does the appalling incidence of domestic abuse.
On this occasion the result hardly mattered. This was another party night following wins over South Africa and South Korea. Even the angry demonstrations against widespread corruption have been paused since the union of teachers failed to disrupt the tournament’s opening match on June 11.
Mexico had already qualified at the top of Group A before their final game with Czechia
Their run so far has brought joy to millions of Mexicans living in a society that is riddled with economic and social problems along with horrifying levels of violence
Instead of charging barricades they are joining with the general public dancing nightly in the streets. Most colourfully and to the loudest music in the square at the foot of this city’s beloved, towering statue of the Lady of Independence. Freedom from Spain, that is.
Mexico’s first female president Claudia Sheinbaum will be hoping the team’s promising start runs deep into the tournament. At least to the quarter-finals which they achieved when Mexico hosted the first and second of their record three World Cups in 1970 and 1986.
For that to happen they may well have to overcome England in the last-16. Not that Tuchel, Kane & Co can be expected to concern themselves about the social context.
As for Senora Sheinbaum, if that match transpires she will not be in attendance, as was the case at the grand opening, so intimidating is the hostility to her administration.
It is only fair to record that since she succeeded her mentor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, homicides in 2026 are projected, at 25,550, to be some 8,000 lower than at the time of the 2022 Qatar World Cup. What will still distress her in particular, though, is that matricides make up a frighteningly high percentage of this fatal toll.
Nor do these figures include the 134,000 men, women and children who have simply disappeared here in the last two years and whose pictures are pinned to trees along the city’s most fashionable paseos.
With precious few of their bodies dug out of graves in dusty hillsides and dense woodland across the country. These are presumed to be victims of the drug cartels who are adding yet more sex trafficking plus organ harvesting to their grim portfolios.
Such is the wealth of these gangs that some are wooing the public by building hospitals, schools and homes for the poor and needy as they hijack control of local government. As the maxim goes, today’s criminals are tomorrow’s prime ministers.
Mexico president Claudia Sheinbaum is hugely unpopular and has stayed away from the World Cup
Drug cartels continue to wield great power and cause significant devastation (pictured – protestors display banners, shirts and photos of missing people, with 134,000 men, women and children having disappeared in the last two years, presumed to be victims of cartels)
Senora Sheinbaum’s unpopularity worsened when she was seen on television hosting a lavish banquet for the FIFA hierarchy and a gaggle of celebrities in the historic grandeur of Chapultepec Castle the evening after the opening match.
Even as hundreds of thousands of Mexicans are living in poverty only fractionally improved by a payment distributed to registered families. The amount: 200 pesos a day. £10 to us.
Talk about tone deaf.
Criticism has been aimed also at the huge cost of staging Mexico’s one-third of this World Cup while people go hungry. Well, at least that brings national pride and, at the moment, much joy to all.
If England do come to high altitude on July 5 they are likely to be up against a Mexican team playing for their sporting lives and for the human lives of so many others.
