Mexicans hold street celebrations and grapple with expensive World Cup

MEXICO CITY (AP) – “Wow!”

A roaring scream echoed through the crowds gathered in front of televisions propped up on plastic tables as they passed through the maze of stalls lining a bustling working-class neighborhood in downtown Mexico City. It resonates with fans all over Latin America and they scream while watching Mexican national team victory another match at fifa world cup Their eyes were glued to screens quietly set up in plazas, under highway overpasses, and at taco stands.

Many Mexicans are taking back the event and holding their own celebrations in the streets, snapping up cheap stadium tickets to the tournament hosted by their country alongside the United States and Canada.

“Honestly, there’s nothing better than going to the stadium, but I prefer being here on the street. … For me, it’s like watching the game from my living room,” said Esmeralda Cerrato, who was watching TV on the street with a few dozen neighbors. “I can feel the blood rushing through my veins, thinking, ‘This is the World Cup.'”

Ticket prices do not include most Mexican viewers

The World Cup celebrations in Mexico generated an almost immeasurable buzz as hundreds of thousands of people gathered for massive celebrations in the host city. mexico cityGuadalajara and Monterrey follow the country’s two-game winning streak.

But just like FIFA faced, street parties are also held after months of scrutiny. World Cup ticket price hikes draw fierce criticism around the world. In Mexico, the average worker Monthly income is approximately $433 Soccer is considered to be a sport that unites people across class lines, but the gap between those who can participate in the game and those who cannot is acute.

it is fueled social tensions Diego Merula, Oxfam Mexico’s fiscal justice coordinator, said many Mexicans felt “this is a party to which we were not invited.”

“The World Cup is built on the logic of squeezing as much value as possible out of it,” Merula said. “It’s important to get people who are willing and able to pay the absolute maximum, and that ends up excluding a lot of people.”

Ticket prices went on sale earlier this year, ranging from $140 to $8,680, but have since soared, with some tickets for the World Cup finals costing around $32,970.

In response to growing criticism, FIFA president Gianni Infantino Defending high ticket prices As compatible with the US market.

Infantino said, “In the United States, you can’t go see a college game for less than $300, let alone a certain level of top professional games.” “And this is the World Cup.”

Fans hold local celebration

For fans like Guillermo Ramirez, the solution was to take matters into their own hands.

Ramirez, 49, is Tepitoa working-class neighborhood in Mexico City with a vast street market filled with bootleg World Cup jerseys.

Here, in an area with the highest crime rates in the city, football is a symbol of resistance and local identity. Located in the heart of a dense market, the soccer field is named after Bernardo Manolete Hernández, a famous Mexican soccer player who was born in the area.

Just a block from the field, Ramirez, wearing a bright green and white Mexico jersey, set up a TV screen and speakers on two plastic tables in front of his home and small corner store. Mexico vs South Korea. He remembers as a young boy watching the 1986 World Cup in Mexico on a television set up by neighbors who couldn’t get into the stadium.

“There are a lot of people who can’t afford to go to the stadium,” Ramirez said. “Tepito is a soccer district, and when there’s a match, everyone pulls out the TV to watch it, especially now during the World Cup.”

Neighbors wearing green and red Lucha Libre masks crowd around his screen, hugging their children and cracking open beers they bought at Mr. Ramirez’s corner store.

When the team won, Ramírez’s neighbors and large areas of Mexico City erupted, with tens of thousands of people flooding the streets and flocking to Mexico City’s central monument, Angel de la Independencia.

Mexican president promotes public watch party

president of mexico claudia sheinbaum has also criticized the costs, with FIFA leaders saying last week: Must reflect pricing decisions.

“Soccer has to be something different,” Sheinbaum said.

Scheinbaum encouraged fans to gather at free public viewing parties set up by local governments and FIFA in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. Mexico’s capital is dotted with nearly two dozen such venues, including in low-income areas of the city.

At one game, more than 200,000 Mexican and foreign fans packed the Zocalo, the city’s main square, and a sea of ​​Mexican jerseys threw crowd surfers into the air.

Armando Soriano, his wife and two children traveled from the outskirts of the city to a small fan fest in a plaza just a mile from where Ramirez lives. There, locals on motorcycles gathered at a screen in front of them, and beer, tequila and snacks were sold in plastic tubs strapped to moving carts.

To him, it felt more Mexican than the core FIFA events.

“I want (my family) to be immersed in that spirit. Most of all, I want them to feel what it means to be Mexican and experience the traditions that the people here live and breathe,” Soriano said.

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