Excitement and chaos: Mexico set, but not quite ready, for first World Cup in 40 years

Plus ça change; this is a World Cup light years removed from the edition staged in Mexico 40 years ago but Javier Aguirre and Hugo Broos are again set to slug it out in the hosts’ opening fixture. Back in the 1986 tournament, which featured 24 teams and was staged exclusively in Mexico, midfielder Aguirre’s home team beat Broos’ Belgium 2-1 in front of 110,000 fans inside the cavernous Azteca Stadium. Now in charge of South Africa and plotting overdue revenge Friday 3am Hong Kong time against the Mexico team managed by Aguirre, Broos said the enlarged 2026 finals would be “more exhausting” than previous editions. “Having 48 teams in three different countries is something special, but for me it’s a little bit too big,” said Broos, citing the example of his side potentially having to travel to Atlanta or Los Angeles for knockout matches. “It’s a lot of travelling; 40 years ago it was in one country, but we have to adapt.” That a healthy number of journalists could congregate to listen to Broos speaking inside a large marquee housed in the shadow of the Azteca was remarkable in itself. A snailing media accreditation queue on Wednesday lasted around three hours, large parts of it under the hot sun with no shelter or access to water. Reporters were asked to lower UV umbrellas because “you might hit someone with them”. Ally McCoist, here working for broadcast media, was allowed to jump the queue, but that is what 19 goals for Scotland and another 217 for Rangers can do for you. There had been a signal of the hare-brained organisation to come earlier in the day. A promised 11am media shuttle from a city centre hotel to the Azteca did not show up, preventing a chunk of the press corps from arriving on time to listen to Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, advising everyone to “Just, you know, chill, relax”. Infantino was fielding questions about Somali referee Omar Artan being refused entry to the World Cup, and the fans and team delegates who have been stalked by visa issues. Iran having to set up camp in the country where Infantino was talking, given they have been permitted to enter the United States only for their games, was not a problem for Infantino. “When people were saying it would be impossible for Iran to come to the World Cup, I promised them that they would,” he said. The bus no-show resulted in an Uber journey, and a salutary lesson. Should you ask to be dropped at the renowned Azteca Stadium, you risk being left holding your bags in Mexico City’s inhospitable south side. Speaking through an interpretation app, the driver belatedly told us the Azteca had been rechristened “Estadio Banorte” (it’s actually Ciudad de Mexico Stadium, or Mexico City Stadium, for this World Cup). Whether he thought two pasty Western guys really wanted to be left behind in an estate that is carefully patrolled by armed guards was a moot point. The next kindly driver arrived in sprightly fashion, then deposited us over the road from the stadium’s metro terminal: “Estadio Azteca Station”. During the interminable queuing, a Mexican television reporter told the South China Morning Post that the country had not got its act together in time to host. “We’ve known it’s coming for a long time, it’s a huge deal for Mexico and a chance to show our cities are vibrant and beautiful,” she said. “But nowhere looks special, and the organisation has been poor.” Still, she was excited about having the first day off to take her son to watch Mexico against South Africa, and it is the football that so often makes everything OK. This is a city already in carnival mode, albeit with the constant noise and revelry tempered with the unease supplied by striking teachers protesting over working conditions. Large gatherings ground the city centre to a halt on a cool, rainy Wednesday evening, while protests about missing people and working conditions are expected outside the stadium on Friday. According to local reports, there is the potential for a delayed kick-off. It was primarily football fans who circled the stadium perimeter on the eve of the game; followers of Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Argentina all merrily mingling, although maintenance workers were busy fixing Fifa livery to the outside walls, and making final efforts to spruce up a ground whose capacity has relatively shrunk to 80,824. On the tournament’s opening day, it will be full to the brim with supporters in their green jerseys, clutching overpriced tickets and idolising the likes of striker Raul Jimenez, whose face gazes down from countless billboards here. Acknowledging his team would have no one on their side, Broos said, nonetheless, that it would be critical to avoid defeat or South Africa’s second match, against South Korea, would be like “having a knife to our throat”. He knows very well that a first-day setback need not be fatal. Belgium recovered four decades ago to reach the semi-finals, where they were eliminated by a pair of Diego Maradona goals, while Mexico went out one round earlier. Regarding these elongated finals, Broos gave the game away a little when he acknowledged that if they were to go winless in their opening two games, South Africa would still have a chance to progress. It is a tournament with a lot of fat, but Mexico is up for it, if not entirely ready.

Excitement and chaos: Mexico set, but not quite ready, for first World Cup in 40 years

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Organisational issues abound and ‘nowhere looks special’ but the capital is in carnival mode and the football, as usual, will make it all OK

Organisational issues abound and ‘nowhere looks special’ but the capital is in carnival mode and the football, as usual, will make it all OK