
Mexico will become the first country to host three World Cups when the renovated Estadio Azteca again takes centre stage from June 11, but beneath the historic milestone lies a national team still wrestling with decades of disappointment and instability.
The weight of “la maldicion del quinto partido” — the failure to reach the quarter-finals since 1986 — has haunted Mexican football for generations.
Since 1994, Mexico had repeatedly advanced






