Mexican football needs controversy. Where none exists it must be invented.

The news this month that members of the squad had stayed out late has felt less like a crisis, and more like slipping into a comfortable pair of shoes. Mexican teams don’t necessarily thrive on drama, but its presence feels more natural than its absence. After all, if there’s one country’s press that can surpass England for beating up on its football team, it is Mexico’s.

The current inquest into the nocturnal habits of the Mexican team appear positively PG compared to some episodes in the national team’s past. In 2011, the team competing in the Gold Cup lost five players to a doping test that found traces of the banned substance clenbuterol. Any other squad might have been floored by losing nearly a quarter of its members but Mexico eventually won the tournament, beating the US 4-2 in the final.

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All the while the national media, the federation and the government made claims and counter claims about whether contaminated meat was at the root of the positive tests. The press initially thundered that the players were guilty, the agriculture ministry put out statements insisting that chicken was safe to eat, and the federation bravely prevaricated, before eventually coming out on the side of the accused players, who all tested negative in a second round of tests.

Remarkably, that wasn’t even the biggest crisis that year. Around the same time the Mexican U-21 team were preparing to compete in Copa America – Concacaf having ordered the Mexican federation to play a full strength team in the Gold Cup to preserve the integrity of the tournament. The U-21s had a promising series of games in preparation for the Copa America, culminating in a victory over Bolivia that looked to be setting them up nicely.

Unfortunately for the Mexicans, an impromptu party at their hotel after the game led to some players complaining that items had been stolen from their rooms, which in turn led to a hotel manager revealing to the media that the attendees at the soiree had included prostitutes. Eight players were sent home, though in fairness they could claim they were only following team tradition – two senior players were suspended and 10 fined after another party in Monterrey in September 2010 also included prostitutes among the guests.

You can also add in El Tri’s absence from the 1990 World Cup after they were banned for fielding overage players at a youth tournament; drug test crises before tournaments in 1999 and 2005, which also saw players sent home; or for variety add in the entire team threatening to go on strike before the team’s first ever Copa America appearance in 1993, over the Mexican transfer system, which the players likened to slavery. Persuaded to play, and with the printing presses back home clattering happily, the team reached the final.

And then there was the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign, in which Mexico qualified by the skin of their teeth thanks to the intervention of the US. The curious mix of catharsis and vitriol this provoked in Mexico was perhaps best captured by a Mexican commentator bellowing “God Bless America” after the US goal against Panama that helped put Mexico through.



Out of that mess and into the tournament came the glorious Miguel Herrera, whose sideline passions drove Mexico through the tournament as a gift to GIF animators everywhere. He was eventually fired after winning the 2015 Gold Cup ... and then punching one of his media critics at an airport hours later.





On the surface of it, the cerebral Juan Carlos Osorio is a study in contrasts to Herrera, with his scientific research and squad rotation. An eye-watering 7-0 loss to Chile in the 2016 Copa America was described in the press as “the worst humiliation in the history of Mexican football”. The fact that Osorio is a foreigner – a Colombian – only increased the scrutiny. His reign could have spiraled out of control, but he adjusted, and steadied his team for a processional World Cup qualifying campaign.

Yet there was definitely something strange about watching a relatively sober Mexico team head towards this tournament, just as it’s been a little odd watching the current glasnost around the England team. It’s why the news that the team have been partying, or even the fact that the coach seems to have unnecessarily accentuated his tinkerer’s reputation to the detriment of team chemistry, actually feels like the natural order of things.

Indeed, far from being unsettled, the squad are reportedly happy to have at least a modicum of siege mentality restored as they head into the group opener against Germany this weekend. Even when midfielder Hector Herrera had to miss a training session to resolve a “family issue” supposedly related to the party, Osorio and the players went with the line that players were “people first” and seemed to relish closing ranks, even as the national tabloids agitated. We’ve been here before.

There is one habit Mexico will be hoping to break, though. For the last six World Cup tournaments they have been eliminated at the round of 16 stage. If Mexico were to go further in Russia you could expect the story of last week’s partying to be lost in the story of the national party that would follow. For now, a familiar cultural anxiety is being dutifully expressed.