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MEXICO CITY — The sight of nearly half a million people flooding the Angel of Independence in downtown Mexico City to celebrate the victory over South Korea hinted at something special. Then, nearly a million Mexicans gathered at that very same landmark to mark the win over Czechia six nights later, confirming it: El Tri has done it — earning the full, unwavering support of an entire nation that finally, after so very long, truly believes.
"We didn't really believe [in Mexico] before the World Cup kicked off," Arturo, 37, tells Sports Illustrated ahead of Mexico's 3–0 victory over Czechia. "But watching the people, the atmosphere, you get emotional and start to believe. ¿Y si sí? (What if we can?)."
¿Y si sí? has become Mexico's unofficial three-word motto throughout the 2026 World Cup. First coined by striker Santiago Giménez, it's a call to dare to dream of the seemingly impossible. For Mexico, that means one thing above all else: a first-ever World Cup title.
Utopian? Perhaps. But for the first time in what feels like an eternity, El Tri has united an entire nation behind a single common cause. And there's genuine substance behind the dream.
ES QUE LO DE MÉXICO ES DE NO CREERSE... 🤯 🇲🇽
Más de 800 MIL aficionados celebrando en Paseo de la Reforma, CDMX. pic.twitter.com/3N5XexNGi3
Mexico's 2026 World Cup Run Is Already Making History
Mexico may not be the most thrilling team at the 2026 World Cup, but it is undeniably one of the most effective. The squad plays to its strengths, limits its vulnerabilities, and having fully embraced Javier Aguirre's pragmatic approach, it radiates confidence.
For the first time across El Tri's 18 World Cup appearances, the team completed the group stage with a flawless record. Less than four years after a humbling early exit in Qatar, Mexico claimed all nine available points to advance comfortably to the knockout rounds.
But the story doesn't stop there. Mexico is only the sixth nation in World Cup history — and just the second this century — to sweep all group stage matches without conceding a single goal. The six goals Mexico has scored in the tournament already surpass the mere five combined shots on target that all three group stage opponents managed to produce.
"Aguirre did it, he made Mexico play like Mallorca," became a widely shared phrase on social media in recent weeks, referencing the style "El Vasco" deployed during his tenure with the La Liga club. Perhaps, but Aguirre did guide a relegation-threatened Mallorca to the 2023–24 Copa del Rey final. And after initial resistance, results have won over Mexican supporters to Aguirre's methods.
There have been versions of El Tri that played a far more flamboyant brand of football than the current side, yet none of them came anywhere near matching the efficiency of the 2026 Group A leaders.
The Numbers Speak for Themselves
Mexican supporters were skeptical and uncertain about El Tri's prospects before the tournament began. Once it got underway, the volatile nature of Mexico's fanbase was still on display, with whistles from the stands at the Estadio Azteca during the opener against South Africa and notably loud boos when El Tri delivered a flat, goalless first half against South Korea.
Yet that undercurrent of frustration, so characteristic of El Tri's fanbase, never escalated into fans fully turning their backs on the team. Even before the 2026 World Cup began, Mexican support was unmatched.
Much has been said about the sky-high ticket prices for World Cup matches this summer. Mexico's games were the most expensive of any team in the tournament under FIFA's dynamic pricing model, with the average ticket to a group stage El Tri match costing $1,848 — Portugal came in second at $1,391.
By the tournament's second week, when FIFA revealed that its official Fan Fests across Mexico, Canada, and the United States had collectively surpassed 2 million attendees, it was the venues in Mexico's largest cities that led the way.
INBOX: FIFA announced that total combined attendance at all of the Fan Fests has eclipsed over 2 million fans.
Highest 3 are:
Mexico City - 527,100,
Monterrey - 244,710
Guadalajara - 218,424
Yes, there was hesitation among Mexico fans before the tournament. Yes, there were whistles and boos during the first two matches. But beneath all of that was a deep, desperate desire to see El Tri succeed.
"People always get very alarmed by the booing," Miguel, 41, admits to Sports Illustrated. "But the anthem sounds even louder, you can also hear the chants. The booing and whistles might last one minute but the chants last 80 or 90 minutes. And when Mexico score a goal … forget about it."
In its final group stage fixture, Mexico delivered the exclamation point that cemented the foundations of an entire nation's dream.
The Victory That Has a Nation Dreaming
Mexico had already secured top spot in the group before stepping onto the pitch for what was, on paper, a low-stakes clash with Czechia. Aguirre made sweeping changes to his lineup given the result had no bearing on El Tri's standing. But for those who packed the Azteca four hours before kickoff, the match felt anything but irrelevant.
Two hours before the opening whistle, the near-capacity Azteca crowd danced together to Los Tucanes de Tijuana's "La Chona" — a beloved Mexican anthem and the latest track added to three-time women's Ballon d'Or winner Aitana Bonmati's playlist. Just before kickoff, the entire stadium roared through David Guetta and Sia's "Titanium" with such intensity it made Stephen Bunting's entrance at the PDC World Darts Championship look understated by comparison.
The first notable boos of the evening were directed at the first hydration break, though the jeering quickly faded as hundreds of fans rushed to the nearest exit to take their own hydration break, refilling their cups with their preferred beverages. Booing continued during the first half, but only when Czechia recycled possession or when referee Yael Falcón awarded a foul against Mexico.
The second half, however, was nothing short of a fairytale for El Tri. Three unanswered goals meant the only thing raining down from the stands was beer, not boos. Then, to crown it all, came the emotional send-off of Mexican legend and undisputed World Cup cult hero Guillermo Ochoa, who featured in the final 12 minutes in what was likely his last professional appearance at a record sixth tournament.
A 3–0 win in a so-called "meaningless" game sent the Azteca and an entire country into euphoric celebration. It's no overstatement to say El Tri currently has a grip on all of Mexico. Can anyone stop them? El Tri fans certainly don't think so.
Ismael, 22, is brimming with confidence. "We can make the quarterfinals at the very least, at the very least," he says. "But with a little bit of help and some luck, we can win it all. Why not?"
"We're playing a team we can definitely beat [in the round of 32]. Then it would be England [in the round of 16], but in this stadium [the Estadio Azteca], Mexico has never lost and they won't lose here," Enrique, 41, says, apparently overlooking the defeats to Costa Rica in 2001 and Honduras in 2013. "I see us [Mexico] in the quarterfinals and then we'll see how we get on in the U.S."
"If we have to drive around in our cars to force England to play through the smog, we'll do it — we'll all do 15 laps around the Azteca so England's players can't breathe."
First up, though, is the round of 32, and El Tri's historic group stage performance earns them the right to host that match on home soil at the Azteca on Tuesday, June 30. The opponent is yet to be determined, but there, Mexico will look to claim only its second-ever knockout round victory in World Cup history — and the first in 40 years.
Crucially, they will do so with the backing of an entire nation standing firmly behind them. Suddenly, there is no room for doubt. Suddenly, Mexico as a country is experiencing a level of unity that once seemed unimaginable.
SI answers is our AI answer engine trained on human-created content.
Suddenly, El Tri has made a nation believe. Suddenly, more than 100 million Mexicans share the same dream: ¿Y si sí?