MEXICO CITY\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>C\u00e9sar Aquino had never been to the Fan Festival in Mexico City\u2019s Z\u00f3calo. But on Wednesday, the day after Mexico beat Ecuador 2-0<\/a> to secure its fourth consecutive World Cup victory, the fan and his wife, Ang\u00e9lica Arias, walked to the plaza wearing two identical caps. Both had the same question embroidered on them: \u201c\u00bfY si s\u00ed?\u201d <\/p>\n In English, it translates to \u201cWhat if we do?\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a catchphrase that fans, players and public figures have used to encourage people to dream that the Mexican national soccer team can exceed expectations.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m pleasantly surprised by how the team has progressed,\u201d Aquino said. \u201cThe enthusiasm of the people is reaching all of us; little by little, that excitement has taken hold of us. That\u2019s why I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n Fans watch the opening match of the World Cup between Mexico and South Africa at a fan festival in Zocalo, Mexico City\u2019s main square, on June 11.<\/p>\n (Marco Ugarte \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n Last month, the streets of Mexico City told a different story. They were filled with protesters<\/a> \u2014 including outraged members of a teachers\u2019 union and relatives of kidnapping victims \u2014 as well as fans skeptical of a team that, four years earlier, posted its worst World Cup performance since 1978. Social problems and public anger toward the government mingled with soccer-induced anxiety.<\/p>\n \u201cThe mood in the country was somber; morale was low,\u201d recalled Aquino, who attended the World Cups in South Africa in 2010, Brazil in 2014 and Qatar in 2022. \u201cBut as the date approached, people got more and more into it.\u201d<\/p>\n On Tuesday, more than a million fans took to the streets to celebrate Mexico\u2019s advancement to the World Cup\u2019s round of 16, a feat the national team hadn\u2019t achieved since 1986, and with each victory, the human tide grows. More than 400,000 people surrounded El \u00c1ngel de la Independencia statue for the first Mexico game, then more than 800,000 gathered for the next few games and more than a million during Mexico\u2019s most recent win.<\/p>\n \u201cThe day before the World Cup began, I felt like it was going to be a lackluster World Cup \u2014 even forced upon the fans,\u201d recalled V\u00edctor Vel\u00e1squez, an Estrella TV reporter from Los Angeles covering Fan Fest in Mexico City. \u201cNow I can\u2019t remember a time when the fans have been so devoted to El Tri.\u201d<\/p>\n The chant that once defined Mexican fans at World Cups \u2014 \u201cS\u00ed se puede\u201d (\u201cYes, you can\u201d in English) \u2014 has been supplanted not only in the streets, but also in stadiums. \u201c\u00bfY si s\u00ed?\u201d echoed on Tuesday from the throats of more than 80,000 fans inside Azteca Stadium as the national team was leading Ecuador 2-0 and victory felt within reach.<\/p>\n The phrase took hold before the World Cup during a news conference ahead of the Liga MX playoffs. Efra\u00edn Ju\u00e1rez, then the coach of Pumas, was asked about the possibility of his team ending a long title drought. The former World Cup player responded with a question of his own: \u201cWhat if they do? What if the Pumas do become champions?\u201d<\/p>\n That response went viral and now the phrase \u201c\u00bfY si s\u00ed?\u201d is chanted by Mexicans as they cheer on their national soccer team \u2014 a squad that boasts four wins without conceding a goal.<\/p>\n Veteran Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa posted a photo <\/u><\/a>wearing a cowboy hat bearing the \u201c\u00bfY si s\u00ed?\u201d inscription. Many artists have featured the phrase on social media, turning it into an unofficial campaign to support Mexico.<\/p>\n For Jes\u00fas Roberto Ram\u00edrez, a 36-year-old poet and content creator, the phrase touches on something deeper.<\/p>\n \u201cI think all Mexicans have a \u2018What if we do?\u2019 in our lives,\u201d said Ram\u00edrez, whose video thanking the World Cup and the Mexican national team<\/u><\/a> for bringing joy to millions of Mexicans accustomed to bad news was shared by FIFA President Gianni Infantino.<\/a> <\/p>\n Mexico fans celebrate after the team\u2019s World Cup win over Ecuador at Azteca Stadium on Tuesday in Mexico City.<\/p>\n (Carl Recine \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n \u201cIn Mexico, our very education holds us back. It tells us we won\u2019t be able to do it because we\u2019re Mexican. But life has taught us to fight for the impossible. The \u2018What if we can?\u2019 goes far beyond soccer.\u201d<\/p>\n Adriana Valasis, an N+ reporter in Mexico City who has covered World Cups and the Olympic Games, has seen firsthand how the Mexican national team lifted the fans\u2019 spirits and brought Mexican society together.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it has broken down a marked inequality we have in Mexico,\u201d Valasis said. \u201cThe political problems aren\u2019t over, but I think Mexico needed an outlet. It was something we needed and didn\u2019t even know it.\u201d<\/p>\n Ram\u00edrez described it as an unexpected truce in a society fractured by politics.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, as Mexicans, we\u2019re in such a polarized moment that you can\u2019t even question what your government is doing without being labeled as part of the opposition, nor can you applaud what it does well without being labeled as being on one side or the other,\u201d Ram\u00edrez said. \u201cI desperately needed a breather. I missed being able to chat with my neighbor for 15 minutes without our political preferences coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n On Sunday, Mexico will play another do-or-die knockout match against England in Mexico City \u2014 a game that, if won, is already expected to spark one of the biggest celebrations in the country\u2019s history and will match the achievements of the 1970 and 1986 World Cups, when El Tri also reached the quarterfinals as a World Cup host.<\/p>\n If they win, authorities and fans have called for caution and restraint<\/a>. On Tuesday, four people died when more than 1 million fans gathered near \u00c1ngel de la Independencia statue to celebrate Mexico\u2019s win. Mexican authorities announced no more than 25,000 will be allowed to gather near the statue, with overflow crowds directed to 49 other locations along Paseo de la Reforma and throughout the city featuring screens showing the game. FIFA briefly considered shifting the kickoff time from evening to daytime to further improve fan safety, but England and Mexico teams opposed the change and Mexican authorities assured they could keep fans safe inside and outside Azteca Stadium, so the game remains scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. local time.<\/p>\n The security adjustments aren\u2019t expected to quell Mexico\u2019s World Cup fever.<\/p>\n During the tournament, a new tradition has also emerged: Fans gather and toss a person into the air, as is traditionally done with a groom at a wedding. The fans are mirroring the Mexican team\u2019s postgame celebrations, which have included tossing Ochoa in the air after he played in his sixth<\/a> and likely final World Cup game at Azteca Stadium.<\/p>\n Veteran Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa is tossed into the air by his teammates after their World Cup win over Czechia at Azteca Stadium on June 24.<\/p>\n (Molly Darlington \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n \u201cThese new generations want to fly,\u201d Ram\u00edrez said. \u201cThis euphoria hasn\u2019t been just because of Mexico\u2019s athletic successes, but also because of the social failures we\u2019ve been dragging around. This World Cup has been a pressure valve that we\u2019ve blown off with this joy.\u201d<\/p>\n Even so, he knows the celebration has an expiration date.<\/p>\n \u201cA World Cup isn\u2019t going to change the problems we have as a country because these are problems we\u2019ve been dragging along for generations,\u201d Ram\u00edrez said. \u201cBut I would like to dream that something of this fellowship will remain with us. Soccer is a celebration. If Mexico loses, it\u2019s going to hurt, but it won\u2019t be a problem, because we already have more than enough other problems.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope that this unity we have as Mexicans stays with us \u2014 even if it\u2019s just a tiny bit \u2014 when the World Cup is over.\u201d <\/p>\n Ram\u00edrez then repeated one of the lines from his viral video expressing gratitude for Mexico\u2019s newfound joy.<\/p>\n \u201cHow beautiful you are, happy Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Fans](\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/d67019b\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5026x3351+0+0\/resize\/320x213!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3e%2F02%2Fb67dca4e4a91b970ebe819f869ba%2Fmexico-wcup-soccer-11178.jpg)
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