Mexico lost to England 3-2 in the World Cup on Sunday night, but thousands of Mexican Americans in Southern California filled downtown Santa Ana and other communities with fireworks, dancing, and flags—turning a second heartbreak into a visible declaration of
Mexico’s elimination came with the kind of sting fans recognize: another early exit for a team that has never reached the World Cup semifinals. Mexico lost to England 3-2 on Sunday night. The final whistle landed like a familiar defeat.
Then people poured into the streets anyway—especially across Southern California—lighting fireworks and turning watch parties into street celebrations “as if we had won the damn thing,” in the words of a man minutes after the match ended.
“We didn’t lose. ” 29-year-old Kevin Cuevas said through watery eyes at Chapter One: The Modern Local in downtown Santa Ana. minutes after the final whistle. He wore certainty like a shield, clutching a Mexican flag emblazoned with St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of lost causes. “We have the best culture. the best men. the best women. the best work ethic. the best team — you name it. we have.”.
The score was right in front of him—Mexico dropped a 3-2 decision to England. But Cuevas shook it off with a different plan for living. “Yes, but we’re moving up,” he said, clutching the flag tighter. “We’re always moving up, never down. There’s no other way to live.”
For some Mexican Americans, the fireworks were not denial. They were a refusal to sink into shame. “We did what we could. and we gave it our absolute all. ” said Zeus Palacios. a 27-year-old immigrant from the Mexican state of Hidalgo. speaking at Fourth and Bush streets. Behind him. Mexican flags rose above traffic lights. people danced in a conga line. and fireworks launched into the air for hours as police looked on.
The match itself had unfolded like the story Mexico fans know too well. The Chapter One crowd stood for Mexico’s national anthem, then watched their team go down 2-0. When Julián Quiñones scored near the end of the first half. the crowd erupted with what the writer described as the loudest noise he’d ever heard from humans. Still. England’s players were taller. faster and more experienced. Mexico couldn’t convert near-misses. and at the end another loss settled over the room.
When the final whistle blew, the Chapter One crowd went quiet. Then the house DJ played “Cielito Lindo” and “El Rey. ” mariachi classics that had become unofficial theme songs of Mexico’s World Cup run. “Cielito Lindo” urges listeners to “sing and don’t cry.” “El Rey” is as defiant as “My Way. ” with its refrain that it’s “not about being first/but knowing how to get there.”.
That soundtrack carried outside. As the writer moved through downtown Santa Ana. he said he noticed a visible shift in how Mexican identity was showing up—especially among young people. There were green soccer jerseys, but men also wore colorful Oaxacan shirts, ponchos and giant sombreros. Women wore flowers in their hair like Frida Kahlo. cowboy hats. and braided hair with ribbons and lace—described as a symbol of resistance among young Latinas after ICE raids last summer.
The celebrations, he said, didn’t resemble what usually happens. Mexican Americans have “long risen up to defend ourselves and defy our haters,” he wrote, but often with an underlying bitterness and anger that shows up at the worst possible moments. Sunday night, he saw something different.
He also pointed to a darker side that couldn’t be ignored. In the wider Southland, the story of the evening wasn’t uniform. Four people were shot in East Los Angeles. A fan was stabbed in Lynwood. An unlawful assembly was declared in Pacoima. The writer also described a moment inside his wife’s business in which a young woman vomited in the patio because she couldn’t handle her BuzzBallz.
Those incidents—he called them “random pendejos”—sat beside the street scene in a way that made the contrast feel sharper. While some celebrations elsewhere carried tension, the Santa Ana crowd appeared determined to push past pain. “Last night. Mexican Americans said no más to our pained past. ” the writer wrote. describing a sense that people were done with the idea of defeat lingering after the game.
He tied that feeling to two slogans: one from this World Cup—“¿Y si sí?. — what if we do win?”—and one from 2018—“Imaginemos cosas chingonas” (“let’s imagine great things”). The blend. as he described it. was a push toward a better tomorrow and a better today. even if the team’s tournament run ended before it could reach the farthest rounds.
Even the people who had hoped for a win talked about it as fuel. not a verdict on who they were. “It would mean the world” if Mexico won, said 32-year-old Reek Fernandez at Chapter One before kickoff. Fellow Orange resident Jonny Munguia, 30, added that the Hispanic community needed that kind of uplift. Jesse Magaña. 22. of Riverside said he hates soccer three years out of four. “but not that fourth year. ” because then you’re rooting for “your blood. not a random team.”.
By Sunday night, the match was over. Mexico had been eliminated, and the pain followed. But the celebration didn’t stop at grief.
“Win or lose. we’re so proud of the team and ourselves. ” said 53-year-old Norma Medellín of Fountain Valley. emphasizing she had “no connection to narcos.” She described leaving a line dance outside a beauty salon that had set up an impromptu sound system. “It’s unfortunate things didn’t go our way, but there’s always 2030.”.
Medellín excused herself and headed across the street for more fiesta—one last proof, in a night already full of contradictions, that for many Mexican Americans, the point wasn’t that the World Cup ended. The point was that they kept going anyway.
Mexico World Cup England 3-2 Santa Ana Chapter One: The Modern Local Kevin Cuevas Zeus Palacios Julian Quiñones fireworks Mexican Americans Southern California