Fans take photos as the England team bus arriving at a hotel in Mexico City on Friday ahead of the team's World Cup round of 16 match against the hosts.Eduardo Verdugo/The Associated Press
Despite police blockades, dozens of Mexican fans gathered outside the England national team’s hotel until the early hours of Sunday morning, hoping to disrupt players’ sleep ahead of their World Cup round-of-16 match against co-host Mexico.
Armed with loudspeakers, horns and fireworks, the crowd gathered outside the JW Marriott hotel in Santa Fe, in the western part of Mexico City and did its best to disturb the guests.
Earlier in the week, “El Tri” supporters deployed the same tactics before a crucial match against Ecuador – Mexico won 2–0 – prompting the Ecuadorean football federation to file a formal complaint with organizers.
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England manager Thomas Tuchel anticipated the disruption but downplayed its potential impact.
“We have a 6 p.m. [Sunday] kickoff, so if we miss some hours of sleep, we’ll make them up in the late morning,” Tuchel said on Saturday.
These late-night hotel “serenades” are an entrenched and polarizing tradition in Latin American football. While they began as a passionate display of support for the home team, they have increasingly evolved into a psychological weapon designed to deprive opponents of sleep.