Today is the day of our last 16 game vs Mexico. To say the Mexicans are excited by this is an understatement, literally everyone we have seen in this city of 25 million people is hyped beyond belief. It turns out that the Mexicans are just like the English in that they have been let down so many times in the really big World Cup games down the years. So come 9pm tonight one of us is going to be on very familiar territory and one of us is going to be estoy loco de contento!
Yesterday we took a trip to the Museo Nacional de Antropología, which is a world-renowned institution housing a vast collection of pre-Hispanic artifacts, including the famous Aztec Sun Stone. An architectural masterpiece of design, this museum has an incredible collection which makes you think about how advanced these societies were thousands of years ago. The colours and the detail of some of the artefacts are astonishing. Then along came the Spanish to ‘trade’ and ‘help’ the Aztecs, Mayans and many others ‘understand that they really needed to worship their Spanish god rather than the gods the locals had been worshipping’.
Annie Liebowitz also had an exhibition of her photographs several of which were football related. She’s an amazing photographer and her work unique.
We met up with Lee and Ian who were also visiting the museum and took a cab to our lunch venue. All of us were feeling the effects of altitude and the pollution in the city. You have to drink plenty of water out here, or risk getting the headaches from hell. I have particularly sensitive lungs, a hangover from a little incident in the Himalayas 26 years ago, and I have to admit I was worried about coming back to Mexico City. True to form I started coughing pretty much as soon as I landed and that had got worse and worse as time went on. Me being me thought I would just heal naturally. How wrong could I be!
We met with Hugo, Arturo, David in the Hacienda de los Morales. This is a very old and magnificent building dating back at least 150 years if not more and has been a restaurant since 1967. The food is traditional, exquisite and very unusual. A proper experience all round. We ate worms, corn fungus and grasshoppers amongst other things. I was very much looking forward to it all, and have to say my expectations were vastly exceeded. I would love to eat this sort of food on a daily basis!
We watched the France vs Paraguay game over lunch, witnessing Paraguay’s truly awful dark arts tactics. What a disgrace they were.
The Mariachi band played ‘Wonderwall’ over lunch which was a nice touch and could be a sign, or not!
During the second half I thought I could hear thunder, but wasn’t sure. We had planned to do some walking and sightseeing, but 10 minutes later we witnessed a storm of Biblical proportions. I have never heard thunder as loud or lightning as frequent. The rain was torrential and relentless. Apparently this is perfectly normal in Mexico City at this time of year, so no one batted an eyelid. It did remind me of the last scene in ‘Carry On Up The Khyber’ with the band playing on.
The storm scotched all of our plans, but by now I was feeling a little cold and my coughing was getting worse and worse. Our friend Dr Mark had advised we get to a doctor and get some antibiotics. David and Arturo kindly offered to drive me to find one. David’s driving was brilliant, even Arturo was impressed. As David said, ‘in Mexico City you have to drive aggressively or else you will take days to get anywhere’. We found a pharmacy with a doctor, waited in line and got seen within 30 mins. David did all of the translation and Mark’s recommendations chimed with the doctors. All good. I paid around £45 for the consultation and antibiotics and anti altitude sickness pills and we went on our way.
All of the Mexicans we have met have been kind, friendly and incredibly helpful. What a country and people they are.
We met up with Hugo, Roberto, Lee and Ian in a bar which will be bang opposite the main place that will be showing the game on massive screens 24 hours later.
Mark and Sam had flown in earlier that afternoon so they came and met us too. The bar was lively and had a great vibe. But I was now feeling a tad jaded and the cough had moved onto my chest and was getting incredibly boring. Kirsty and I bid farewell to all, and walked the 20 mins back to our place. I needed some rest for sure. I was washed out.
As I write this today, in around 12 hours time we will know if we will be in Miami or Marston Meysey next. It’s 40 years since I was last here for the Paraguay and Argentina games in the 1986 World Cup. One win, one loss. There can be no draw tonight.
I have decided that I will be relaxed as far as I can be. We have had an amazing journey and if it ends today, then so be it. Our players will be playing at altitude, something that they have never done before. And as Hugo says, ‘you get to 60-65 minutes in the game and then you enter the death zone’. The Mexican players will know this and look to exploit it. Every single Mexican we have met believe they will win tonight.
As as our dear friend Hugo often reminds me ‘Football is life and hope is free’.
May the best team on the night prevail. Whatever happens, it will be memorable. A World Cup match in the Azteca Stadium against Mexico. It really doesn’t get better than this.
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