Mexico’s Coach Feeds a Nation’s Obsession

Of all the opponents that South Africa could have faced Friday in the first World Cup match on African soil, none will probably be better prepared for the noise and emotion and altitude than Mexico.

The vast Soccer City stadium will throb like a giant beehive with tens of thousands of vuvuzelas bleating in unison. But Mexico is not likely to be intimidated. El Tricolores are regularly serenaded by buzzing trumpets in their own hornets’ nest — 105,000-seat Estadio Azteca in Mexico City — where at 7,200 feet the air is even thinner than it is in South Africa.

read full story at nytimes.com