Horns. Noisemakers. Green jerseys and cheering. It echoed through the corridors of the Pasadena Paseo Cultural Market as throngs of Team Mexico fans gathered across the Pasadena Civic Auditorium Plaza on Wednesday night to watch a big-screen live broadcast of the Mexico versus Czechia World Cup match.
With Mexico playing on Wednesday, and USA versus Turkey to come on Thursday, it was a glimpse of what is a growing vibe of enthusiasm in a region full of fans, watching their teams on the path to what they hope will be the Cup.
And then came a Mexico goal, at around 7:15 p.m. Hands raised. Cheers. Another, just about six minutes later. Smiles.
“We are thrilled to once again welcome residents and visitors to Pasadena for this exciting World Cup watch party as Mexico and Czech Republic take the field,” Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo stated in a press release announcing the watch party. “Soccer has a unique way of bringing people together across cultures, languages, and backgrounds, and Pasadena is proud to be a place where fans can gather to celebrate the spirit of the game.”
The city set up two large screens in front of the Pasadena Civic Center, along with food trucks, foosball tables, soccer games for kids and a booth with free merchandise.
Aaron Morgan, the owner of No Division, a company that makes custom items, had a booth at the event, giving free World Cup and Pasadena merchandise paid for by the city.
While pressing logos onto tote bags and shirts, Morgan said that he enjoyed watching videos of World Cup fans on social media celebrating together.
“I love seeing people from other countries that are visiting, that are so surprised by how much they love America,” Morgan said while passing a shirt to an attendee. “It really got me a little emotional, watching everyone get along. I love seeing the unity.”
Before the match, Mexico was up 2-0 in the group stage, winning against South Africa (by the score of 2-0) and South Korea (1-0). Aside from the team’s performances, statistics and plays in these matches, fans across Los Angeles are passionately supporting Mexico.
At the sold-out Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, thousands of Mexico fans cheered together at a watch party as the team beat South Africa on the first day of the tournament and scored the first goal in the 2026 World Cup.
In Koreatown, an organized watch party showing the Mexico vs. Korea match had a 1,000-person limit. But the watch party blew past that to 10,000 attendees, according to event organizers.
Similar to Team Mexico watch parties this past few weeks, fans filled East Green Street and the stairs up to the cultural market with chairs, wearing Mexico jerseys and waving the Mexican flag.
Angel Sanchez, another watch party attendee, said he was born a Team Mexico fan. He said he was excited because “this is the farthest they’ve been, to be honest.”
Over the past few weeks, Sanchez said he went to two other watch parties, including the Koreatown showing.
He said Los Angelenos are especially supportive of Mexico because the city is represented by Mexican culture.
Max Garibaldo, attending the watch party with Sanchez and a group of other friends, was especially confident of Mexico; not only would they win the whole World Cup, but also find and beat Team USA on the way.
“[Mexico is] going to win the full thing and they’re going to smack USA. We don’t like USA and we have some USA fans over here next to us,” Garibaldo joked, pointing at his friend next to him.
Diego Trujillo Mora and Sharon Saenz came out to Pasadena together to watch Mexico win.
Saenz said she grew up watching Team Mexico with her mom and dad, but this year, the World Cup is more special to her.
“This is my first year that I’ve actually cared more about the World Cup, because it’s actually happening near me,” Saenz said.
Since watching the Mexican soccer team as a kid growing up, and witnessing its disappointing World Cup performance in 2022 when the team didn’t make it out of their group stage, Mora said he has a strong feeling that Mexico might win the World Cup this year.
“This year we got it,” Mora said. “We have a lot of young talent in combination with our older talent. I feel like it’s a very good combination of respect and raw talent that we genuinely have a chance to win it all.”
Mora also said that the big and passionate fanbase supporting team Mexico isn’t just people from south of the border, but also Los Angelenos connecting to their home country through soccer.
“You don’t have to be born on Mexican soil to be Mexican,” he said. “I feel like being Mexican is like family. What brings family together is soccer. It’s a beautiful space where we can all come together and just enjoy who we are, our history and everything.”
Adam Young is a freelance writer with the Southern California News Group.