Nobody can accuse Mexican soccer fans of being undedicated. Legions of supporters stayed up all night in Mexico City on Monday, chanting outside of the Ecuadorian squad’s hotel ahead of their Round of 32 matchup on Tuesday.
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The fan gathering, which was captured in several videos posted to social media, was apparently intended to give the Mexican squad an advantage for Tuesday’s game by limiting the sleep of the players from Ecuador.
The videos showed fans honking car horns, chanting, lighting fireworks, beating drums and blowing trumpets.
“Our home crowd is our 12th man,” Mexico manager Javier Aguirre told reporters on Monday. “I don’t mean to say that we don’t have support elsewhere, but we are aware that we have a whole country behind us, and that motivates us a lot. I would say that we are all excited about what’s to come.”
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Mexico, which is hosting the World Cup through a joint bid with the U.S. and Canada, has played each of its first three games on home soil. If the team wins Tuesday’s match in Mexico City, they’ll remain in the capital for a Round of 16 match on July 5. The winner of the Mexico-Ecuador match will face the victor from Wednesday’s game between England and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“It’s true that right now, this week or the last two, there’s a lot of joy, internally too,” Aguirre said. “You can tell just by watching the training. … I’ve been in and out of the national team, but we’re in a good place.”
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