Mexican fans flood Reforma after World Cup win over South Africa

Mexico’s opening World Cup win became something bigger than a result. At the Ángel de la Independencia, hundreds of thousands of people poured onto Paseo de la Reforma after Julián Quiñones and Raúl Jiménez scored in a 2-0 victory over South Africa, turning the monument into the city’s loudest symbol of relief, pride and release.

The match was played on June 11, 2026, at the Estadio Ciudad de México, the tournament opener for the World Cup 2026. As the final whistle sank in, fans moved quickly to Reforma, where the Ángel again served as the capital’s default gathering point for national celebrations. EL UNIVERSAL placed the crowd at around 150,000 people, while other tallies around the World Cup festivities in the capital ran much higher, reflecting how quickly a football result can mobilize the city at a civic scale.

The celebration was not orderly in a polished, ceremonial sense. Proceso described the party as interrupted by a torrential downpour, then restarted with even more force. Fans came back with beer, flags, foam and luchador masks, while chants and rancheras rolled through the avenue. “Cielito Lindo” drifted through the scene as Mexican and foreign supporters packed around the base of the monument.

The size of the gathering mattered not only for its energy but for what it revealed about football in Mexico. A single win against South Africa, in the country’s first match of the tournament, produced a public release strong enough to fill Reforma and reassert the Ángel as a shared national stage. The reaction also showed how tightly the Selección Mexicana remains tied to identity, especially when a World Cup run opens with a clean victory and two goals from Julián Quiñones and Raúl Jiménez.

The monument’s symbolism cut both ways. In the same space, mothers searching for loved ones protested and demanded the safe return of more than 133,000 people disappeared in Mexico. The contrast was stark: one side of Reforma celebrated a national team, while another insisted on a national wound that has not closed.

The Ángel, inaugurated in 1910 for the Centenario de la Independencia, has weathered time, earthquakes and vandalism, according to the INAH, yet it continues to anchor Mexico City’s biggest public gatherings. The city has already shown how large the World Cup crowd can get, with the Fan Fest at the Zócalo drawing 412,000 people in five days, according to FIFA data cited by the capital government. For Mexico, football is not just sport; it is one of the few forces that can still summon the capital into the street at full volume.