“It is one of the great results in England’s World Cup history. Mexico do not lose here.”
Guy Mowbray’s genius word choice should sit alongside the immortal Kenneth Wolstenholme and John Motson in the pantheon of iconic commentary moments.
The second part of the statement is most striking, because ‘here’ is what made yesterday morning so remarkable. It was a result, and a collection of moments with each player involved, both when they walked on to the pitch and trudged off it, where you could tangibly tell they were stepping into something so much bigger than them.
I wasn’t there in Mexico City. Unfortunately, I am largely not there to watch my own team for different reasons. The majority of fans don’t go to live sport. It sure is a privilege.
Scribes privileged enough to be sat inside the Azteca Stadium can and will wax lyrical about how gritty England were, and how many factors not in their favour they overcame.
It’s one of the best occasions in sport that I have ever seen, but it was because of Mexico City and its feverish fandom, and it was absolutely because of the venue. Good grief. What a venue.
Estadio Azteca is home to Club América of Liga MX in Coyoacán. It is the largest stadium in Latin America and understandably known as the ‘Temple of Football’.
Coyoacán translates to ‘place of those who own coyotes’. You’d be forgiven for thinking a pack of them had been unleashed into the seats that surround the famous turf previously trodden by the greats.
The occasion will, of course, be remembered for a crucial victory for Thomas Tuchel’s England, but what Jude Bellingham can now say is that he’s scored twice in the Azteca.
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That is the same as Cameron Smith telling me he has won The Open at the Old Course, and the same as Valentine Dolan telling me that she won the Women’s Amateur at Muirfield.
We crave sentiment as sports fans and golf writers, particularly. Sentiment usually comes from the wider context of a tournament and the factor of where something is held. In 2022, when Smith broke Rory McIlroy’s heart to win The Open, it was made all the more gutwrenching and personal because it was at St Andrew’s – the sport’s home.
History in the Auld Grey Toun is like a misty aroma from the building walls that line the 18th hole. Next year will be the 100th anniversary of Bobby Jones’ victory there, and even more reason to celebrate what will be another magical week in a magical stretch of Fife.
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Just look at what is being touted for the Tour Championship on the PGA Tour in the coming years, and the salivating that followed. Pine Valley, Cypress Point? Yes, please.
We all rejoiced when the R&A revealed that Royal Lytham & St. Anne’s was back on the Open Rota – it’s the same thing as when football’s biggest event is held in venues like that colossus last night.
I haven’t been to Mexico City, let alone the national stadium, but I’ve strolled up the stairs through the clubhouse on Links Gate, and stood mesmerised by the mural of Seve and the antique clubs used by champions Jones and Jacklin.
Lytham is the Azteca. The Old Course is the Azteca. It’s all the same thing, and we can’t get enough of it.
Also in 2022, Woods bowed out of The Open Championship, at the only place he possibly could. As he crossed the Swilcan Bridge, he took in thousands of fans producing rapturous applause.
He tilted his head down, hiding his tears as he hit a few more shots at the place where he won two Claret Jugs. The Home of Golf appeared to give him one last goodbye, as he marched towards the famous R&A clubhouse and iconic 18th green.
We’ll never forget that, and it is because of the Old Course.
That World Cup match will go down in history, too. It was frantic, it was heated, and it was tense. But it was because of the Azteca, and the proud natives that packed it out.
It’s the same thing.
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