Two contrasting photos from almost the exact same spot outside the Azteca Stadium were posted on social media by an architect based in Mexico City on Tuesday.
As of the eve of tonight’s World Cup opener between Mexico and South Africa, when the historic venue becomes the first to host games at three editions of the tournament, they had been viewed almost 140,000 times.
In the first, two fans are standing on a colourful circular pattern in 1986. The plaza was open and inviting, the flags of those countries taking part draped from the stadium’s concrete arches.
The other, from earlier this week, showed a large black hoarding ensuring there is an impenetrable barrier.
The photo struck a nerve because it got to the heart of festering resentment within Mexican society. The cost of tickets means even the middle class have been priced out. The Azteca is not a place where this Mexico team usually gets to play, their FA instead hawking them around parts of America where the diaspora is vast and wealthy.
For example, El Trí have played 57 games since the last World Cup in Qatar. Only three of them have been played here in the Azteca as redevelopment work was carried out. The first game after the November 2022 showpiece in the desert was a 2-2 draw with Jamaica, managed by a certain Heimir Hallgrímsson.
Of those 57 internationals, 41 were played across the border in the USA.
Still, the country will shut down at 1pm today, with parties and gatherings planned. Mexico is a country that might not quite be as obsessed with its national team as Brazil or Argentina, but all it takes is one moment to ignite the passion and a powerful sense of purpose.
“We are very respectful of South Africa,” head coach Javier Aguirre said. “But we’re not afraid of them.”
In Mexico City, the people live by their own appreciation of time. It is why, on Wednesday morning, scores of large open-back trucks were in a convoy for about a kilometre up Calzada de Tlalpan, an avenue that connects Azteca in the south with the centre.
City workers hung from the sides and out of the back, passing containers of flowers to colleagues on the path beneath them so they could plant them in time for the big day.
These coronations were bright orange, and in an attempt to bring even more colour to the area officials also painted those black barricades green. A closer look made you realised why.
Messages from locals were being covered up.
Anti-Fifa.
Fifa Go Home.
Fuck Fifa.
And also this: Mundial Del Despojo.
Roughly translated that is World of Dispossession.
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Or could it be dispossessed? Possibly disappeared?
That, perhaps, is also a reference to the parents and families of loved ones who have also marched on the stadium in recent weeks seeking justice for those who have gone missing, feared dead at the hands of cartels with not enough done by authorities.
The World Cup is here, and the world has arrived to celebrate, yet it is only right to highlight the pain and the suffering of those whose will remain when the world has moved on.
There was plenty of last-minute work being done around the stadium before tonight’s encounter. Teenagers sat on plastic chairs around plastic tables signing employment forms with the
bars and restaurants.
Aguirre was reminded of the fact Mexico snatched a late draw in the same fixture to open the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He smiled and was relaxed. “Are they bringing their vuvuzelas? They love to dance, they love to wear headdresses. I love them,” he said of the Bafana Bafana supporters.
Aguirre was dressed in a sublime tracksuit top that will become an instant classic and no doubt end up on knock off sites.
Speaking of which, South Africa boss Hugo Broos insisted Mexico will be favourites to top the group, not just because they are at home and will be used to the altitude – he says his players have been in the country long enough to adapt – but because they are in good form.
The Azteca will have the largest capacity of all 14 World Cup venues – 80,824 – but Broos said screaming fans won’t be the ones on the pitch. Now 74, he represented Belgium at Mexico 86.
“That was 40 years ago, it was magical,” he said. “This is modern times, so we have to adapt.”
This World Cup has been dogged by scandal and controversy before a ball has even been kicked. It will take more than the Azteca to cure the many ills of the tournament but at least there is the possibility that some of its magic can act as a catalyst for its salvation.
Tonight: Mexico v South Africa, 8pm (RTÉ 2 and ITV 1)
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This World Cup needs the magic of the Azteca to act as catalyst for its salvation
WHEN YOU STEP inside the Azteca Stadium you instantly feel transported to a different time.
It is a place where football belongs.
Where the World Cup belongs.
Pele and Maradona lifted the trophy here and both produced moments of audacity that inspire cliché (ahem) and adoration.
Stare long enough and you might just want to reach out to try and touch The Hand of God.
They are not the ghosts of greatness that stalk the Azteca, they are the immortals of the game that feel as real and vivid as ever before.
Inside this place it does not feel like anything other than possibility exists.
Now step outside, into the real world, the one which Fifa president Gianni Infantino said he lives in when so much of the evidence points to the contrary.
Two contrasting photos from almost the exact same spot outside the Azteca Stadium were posted on social media by an architect based in Mexico City on Tuesday.
As of the eve of tonight’s World Cup opener between Mexico and South Africa, when the historic venue becomes the first to host games at three editions of the tournament, they had been viewed almost 140,000 times.
In the first, two fans are standing on a colourful circular pattern in 1986. The plaza was open and inviting, the flags of those countries taking part draped from the stadium’s concrete arches.
The other, from earlier this week, showed a large black hoarding ensuring there is an impenetrable barrier.
We detailed on Wednesday some of the reasons for that security measure.
The photo struck a nerve because it got to the heart of festering resentment within Mexican society. The cost of tickets means even the middle class have been priced out. The Azteca is not a place where this Mexico team usually gets to play, their FA instead hawking them around parts of America where the diaspora is vast and wealthy.
For example, El Trí have played 57 games since the last World Cup in Qatar. Only three of them have been played here in the Azteca as redevelopment work was carried out. The first game after the November 2022 showpiece in the desert was a 2-2 draw with Jamaica, managed by a certain Heimir Hallgrímsson.
Of those 57 internationals, 41 were played across the border in the USA.
Still, the country will shut down at 1pm today, with parties and gatherings planned. Mexico is a country that might not quite be as obsessed with its national team as Brazil or Argentina, but all it takes is one moment to ignite the passion and a powerful sense of purpose.
“We are very respectful of South Africa,” head coach Javier Aguirre said. “But we’re not afraid of them.”
In Mexico City, the people live by their own appreciation of time. It is why, on Wednesday morning, scores of large open-back trucks were in a convoy for about a kilometre up Calzada de Tlalpan, an avenue that connects Azteca in the south with the centre.
City workers hung from the sides and out of the back, passing containers of flowers to colleagues on the path beneath them so they could plant them in time for the big day.
These coronations were bright orange, and in an attempt to bring even more colour to the area officials also painted those black barricades green. A closer look made you realised why.
Messages from locals were being covered up.
Anti-Fifa.
Fifa Go Home.
Fuck Fifa.
And also this: Mundial Del Despojo.
Roughly translated that is World of Dispossession.
Or could it be dispossessed? Possibly disappeared?
That, perhaps, is also a reference to the parents and families of loved ones who have also marched on the stadium in recent weeks seeking justice for those who have gone missing, feared dead at the hands of cartels with not enough done by authorities.
The World Cup is here, and the world has arrived to celebrate, yet it is only right to highlight the pain and the suffering of those whose will remain when the world has moved on.
There was plenty of last-minute work being done around the stadium before tonight’s encounter. Teenagers sat on plastic chairs around plastic tables signing employment forms with the
bars and restaurants.
Aguirre was reminded of the fact Mexico snatched a late draw in the same fixture to open the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He smiled and was relaxed. “Are they bringing their vuvuzelas? They love to dance, they love to wear headdresses. I love them,” he said of the Bafana Bafana supporters.
Aguirre was dressed in a sublime tracksuit top that will become an instant classic and no doubt end up on knock off sites.
Speaking of which, South Africa boss Hugo Broos insisted Mexico will be favourites to top the group, not just because they are at home and will be used to the altitude – he says his players have been in the country long enough to adapt – but because they are in good form.
The Azteca will have the largest capacity of all 14 World Cup venues – 80,824 – but Broos said screaming fans won’t be the ones on the pitch. Now 74, he represented Belgium at Mexico 86.
“That was 40 years ago, it was magical,” he said. “This is modern times, so we have to adapt.”
This World Cup has been dogged by scandal and controversy before a ball has even been kicked. It will take more than the Azteca to cure the many ills of the tournament but at least there is the possibility that some of its magic can act as a catalyst for its salvation.
Tonight: Mexico v South Africa, 8pm (RTÉ 2 and ITV 1)
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
2026 world cup Mexico Soccer South Africa time for action