On a square outside the metro station at Insurgentes, a crowd is gathering. It’s four on four inside an enclosed pitch. One section of the local un-uniformed constabulary against another. Engrossed armed police are leaning over the barriers to watch.Hoodies versus t-shirts. One of the hoodies miscontrols an easy ball, his team mates disapprovingly sigh. A t-shirt pounces, stabbing home, turning in tiredness, beads of sweat trickling. Even the locals having an exhibition kickabout feel the altitude.There is an older gentleman a matter of yards away, resting at the top of three steep steps having his shoes shined. He glances over but not as enthusiastically as others who are now rushing over to see the cop-on-cop showdown. His eyes momentarily divert in the other direction, to a four-piece all clad in their country’s football shirts, rocking in a tent as a steady wave wanders by.It’s heavy, this carnival. Bass up loud, singer treating this stage as his o2. Well underground, their rendition of the Cranberries is still audible. But there are no zombies here. This is Mexico City. Mexico City at their own World Cup. Mexico City at their own World Cup when the co-hosts are not doing too badly at all. Very much alive. One of many fans turns up at the Azteca for the last-32 win over Ecuador Fans pack the subway after the 3-0 win over Czech Republic in the group stageJoin the discussionShould safety ever take a back seat to national celebrations at big sporting events?What’s your view? We are bang in the middle of town on Thursday afternoon and this is just over halfway of a five-mile journey between two points that will encapsulate what a last-16 game with England means to a country that is so often at war with itself. A slightly longer trip than planned, sadly, after a debit card was inexplicably swallowed by a hole in the wall and took an hour to retrieve.Before the interlude, it starts in the old town, ‘centro historico’, and the Angel of Independence is our destination. The city mayor Clara Brugada estimates that this area hosted 1.4million supporters to watch their first World Cup knockout victory for four decades against Ecuador earlier in the week.Down Paseos de la Reforma, the city’s most iconic street, countless giant screens erected solely for Mexico’s matches are effectively guiding the way from the old town to the city’s financial and tourism hub. The roads shut. The places comes to a complete standstill. The bars teem, restaurants burst.They are still living off that night, the vividness of the result, the sheer quality of a first-half performance that has not been seen for generations. The blur of movement and verve England have not managed. Noise is everywhere, street performers loudly marking their territory and blind men singing; even on the subways they show highlights of 1986 alongside the news. The city is a sensory overload but even more so this month, with obnoxiously loud TVs on every corner of the popular Juarez neighbourhood, and specifically this week. The week of belief.Earlier in the morning, as businessmen queue for their Guajolota at street vendors, a few football shirts are becoming apparent. Soon, green everywhere. Probably one in every 15 people is wearing a shirt. On a Thursday morning. So it is fair to say that come Sunday, the sight will be something else, and it is now that crystallises why their jersey has sold more than any other Adidas merchandise across the tournament. The iconic Azteca stadium in Mexico City, where England will take on the hosts in the last 16Yet as is the way here, Mexico has been asking itself serious questions over the past two days. Brugada is resisting calls to limit some events for the titanic meeting with Thomas Tuchel’s side in the wake of a tragedy unfolding in the shadow of the capital’s golden angel, a focal point for both celebration and protest. Four people died during what had started as something joyous following the country’s 2-0 victory over Ecuador but briefly turned sinister. Three of them, including a 19-year-old woman, suffocated.Eyewitnesses say that fans on Reforma simply could not move, wedged in like sardines, and pointed to quieter offshoots of Mexico’s equivalent of The Mall as a more comfortable vantage point. Some chanting of ‘we’ll swim, we’ll swim’ – taken to mean a reference to the Pixar film Finding Nemo – allegedly led to widespread pushing, stalls collapsing and general panic for over half an hour. Screaming women and children lay on the floor, people stepping over them.A renowned columnist in daily newspaper Milenio argues that co-hosting this tournament, and the success that head coach Javier Aguirre has engineered, promotes nationalism and ‘idiotic tragedies’. How national monuments, the Angel included, are mostly barricaded for fear of protests is sad. Fans with flags flood the streets for Mexico’s group stage win over Czech Republic Fans gather on Reforma to watch Mexico’s last-32 clash with Ecuador on TuesdayIn not introducing stricter rules around attending at the weekend, Brugada’s raised the point that Mexico City has installed more screens than anywhere else in either the United States and Canada, so decentralising watchalongs should not prove too difficult.With the angel as the main artery, what Brugada’s pragmatic conviction fails to realise is a desire of these supporters to be right at the heart of history.With good reason, too. The amount families all wearing kits together, the hundreds of makeshift stalls selling ‘versions’ of the original, the buzz, people walking in all directions all the time to just be somewhere, is indicative of a nation swept along by its football team. A nation that booed and jeered a goalless draw with Uruguay back in November, leading West Ham midfielder Edson Alvarez to sarcastically say ‘it’s nice to be home’, and only made worse by a defeat by Paraguay in Texas three days later.Since then, they’ve won 10 of 12 matches – friendlies were arranged for those without club commitments over the winter – and are yet to concede a goal at the World Cup, even if observers worry about errors from defender Cesar Montes and admit that they will not keep Harry Kane at bay.Mexico’s unlikely rise started with the tears of Raul Jimenez, that goal against South Africa prompting an outpouring after coming back from a fractured skull but also the recent death of his father, and grew from there.Those around the team say ‘The Wolf of Tepeji’ epitomises a sudden surge in quality. A hero to millions, battling on in the headband, battling back from a perilous situation that had been described as ‘code red’ in the immediate aftermath of clashing with Arsenal’s David Luiz in 2020.Jimenez is more than just a triumph over adversity for Aguirre, the 35-year-old the crucial link and more than worthy of his spot. Holds up play, brings the youngsters into it. By scoring against Ecuador, he became the second most-prolific goalscorer in their history, ahead of the great Jared Borgetti and now five behind Javier Hernandez.Hernandez, formerly of Manchester United and now a Fox pundit revelling in this success, is proving a hit on TV screens as he gees up crowds gathered next to their podium.He’s always been outgoing and engaging, Hernandez, and was one of the first exponents of ‘¿Y si sí??’ – loosely translated to ‘what if it happens?’, this idea that Mexico can win a major trophy against all odds. The ex-striker said that in 2018 but it’s far more relevant now, the phrase a sensation over on TikTok. Raul Jimenez has scored three goals so far but also holds up the ball and brings team-mates into playOptimism reigns, the smiles piercing. Mexico held two closed training sessions on Thursday and Friday, away from prying eyes, and the steely determination is being matched by something approaching expectation. Dangerous expectation? We’ll find out in the crazed Azteca, the bucket-list Sunday, when 80,000 cram in early and do what they do, leaving England gasping for air before they even start jogging.As they wait patiently for a date with destiny, these guys will consume any football at the moment. Going past Casa De Los Azulejos, the 18th century ‘House of Tiles’ wrapped in glorious ceramic but its beauty balanced by sales of those creepy dolls, takes you back towards the old town, where FIFA’s fan festival stands in Constitution Square, alongside the blue agave plants used as the base for tequila.Thousands are flocking along Mayo Street – where the dolls somehow follow your gaze – to watch Spain beat Austria. Thousands more turn up for the drama of Croatia and Portugal. Seventeen police in riot gear line the street outside one entrance. One local insists that Mexico beat Portugal if it comes to it, somewhat disparaging of Cristiano Ronaldo as he flashes up on screen at full time.That confidence continues to ooze. Big plays are being made of Jimenez’s record against Jordan Pickford, beating him six times in the Premier League – more than any other goalkeeper. Reporters who have chronicled all the rubbish over the years excitedly write about ‘the ghosts of recent English failures can be brought back to haunt them’ – and that is not even referencing Diego Maradona. Gilberto Mora (left) is Mexico’s 17-year-old magic man and expected to test EnglandThey also see magic in Gilberto Mora, a 17-year-old destined for a European move who lives with his parents, attends Sunday Mass and is predicted to unlock England. His display against Ecuador was a coming of age moment, nailing down a starting spot for this one. Mexico’s youngest ever player is their new great hope. If there is a record starting with ‘youngest ever’, then it’s fair to assume that Tijuana’s teenage midfielder is close by.‘What struck me most is how he has been received everywhere,’ says Jorge Alberto, owner of Tijuana, looking back on Mora’s breakthrough year at 16. ‘In the Leagues Cup against LA Galaxy, every time he touched the ball the crowd erupted — not just our fans, but Galaxy supporters.‘In Mexico it’s the same story. Against Club America, when he came off the bench, their fans stood up and cheered him. Wherever we go, in every city, rival fans applaud him. That tells you something very powerful — that he is already becoming a figure for the whole country.’Jimenez claims that Mora can become somebody who inspires the next generation. No pressure, then.This is the pair who are idolised by those primed to line up down Reforma, although you wouldn’t know it – barely any shirts worn by fans bear players’ names. That somehow feels fitting for a country finding its feet on this stage and ending such a long search for an international identity.