Mexico hope a month of isolation can rekindle the magic of the 1986 World Cup
Mexico hope a month of isolation can rekindle the magic of the 1986 World Cup. El Tri reached the quarter-finals the last time they hosted the tournament.
El Tri reached the quarter-finals the last time they hosted the tournament. They’re hoping old methods can revive the team after a disastrous outing in 2022 It was January 1986 and the temperature at the peak of La Malinche, one of Mexico’s tallest mountains, had plummeted to a bone-chilling cold.
A group of soccer players training for that year’s World Cup ran through a dense fog to the summit 14,600ft above sea level gasping in the thin air. Their Serbian coach, Bora Milutinović, had pushed his players to the limit, seeking not only to test their physical endurance but also hoping for a psychological breakthrough.
Up there, the Mexico players suffered, shivered and cursed. But through hardship they became a family.