World Cup serenade: Mexican fans blast horns outside hotel to disrupt England players’ sleep
Mexican fans gathered outside England's hotel Sunday morning, aiming to disrupt players' sleep before their World Cup round of 16 match against Mexico.
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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.
This is crazy.
Mexico fans outside of the England hotel at 2am before their World Cup clash. pic.twitter.com/w2gQrmc2pw
— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) July 5, 2026
Mexico fans outside the England hotel in the middle of the night 😭 pic.twitter.com/yLG7lXn2gL
— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) July 5, 2026
Earlier in the week, “El Tri” supporters deployed the same tactics before a crucial match against Ecuador — Mexico won 2–0 — prompting the Ecuadorian football federation to file a formal complaint with organizers.
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.
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Comments
1 Comments
Latin American Soccer fans have a long history of doing some really slimy things like trying to keep opponents from sleeping. I won't be surprised if the Mexican fans at Azteca riot if they are somehow defeated.
By the same token, the ongoing persecution of Mexican fans for taunting the opposing goaltender by calling him a male prostitute ("chichifo") is moronic, fueled by the worst kind of political correctness. This effort has been coordinated by the main stream media, who deliberately try to make it appears so much worse by trying to make it sound like these chants are horrific by refusing to disclose what they're saying. As I understand it, the practice started after an opposing goaltender was caught with a male prostitute. That's the epitome of a "Nothing Burger".