Mexico
FIFA #16
The Round of 16 specialists — reached it seven consecutive World Cups and lost all seven. El Quinto Partido curse is real, deeply documented, and shows no signs of lifting.
📍 In the US
El Tri will base in the Dallas area, home to the largest Mexican-American community of any major US city. Mexico's fans will outnumber the home crowd in essentially every venue they enter — this is functionally a home tournament for them, and the green jerseys will fill entire sections before the national anthem even starts.
Style
Technical and creative in attack, using quick passing and movement to open up defenses before striking with pace on the wings.
Rivals
USA. They invented each other as rivals in CONCACAF and have been irritating each other ever since — though Mexico has historically had the better of it, and would very much like to keep it that way.
Home Base
Football is Mexico's other religion, and in a deeply Catholic country that's saying something. The Estadio Azteca in Mexico City hosted two World Cup finals — 1970 and 1986 — and remains the largest football stadium in the Americas. The atmosphere at an El Tri home game is among the most intense in international sport.
Human Rights
Freedom House
Political rights and civil liberties score (higher = more free)
Reporters Without Borders
Press Freedom Index ranking (lower = more free, out of 180 countries)
UN Human Development Index
Human Development Index score (higher = more developed, 0–1 scale)
Transparency International
Perceived public sector corruption — higher is cleaner
ILGA World
Legal status of same-sex relationships