The World Cup returned to Mexico after 40 years. Many locals feel left out

MEXICO CITY: Born in 1986, the last time Mexico hosted a World Cup, Eduardo Marin likes to joke that he’s measured his life not in years, but in soccer tournaments.
In 1994, as a young kid, he watched with his family as Mexico crashed out on penalties to Bulgaria.
In 2006, by then at college, Marin recalls the heartbreak of Argentina’s Maxi Rodriguez smashing home a volley from outside the box in extra time, knocking out one of the best Mexico teams in recent memory. And in 2018, in his early 30s, Marin and eight friends painted a bus in Mexico’s green, white and red and drove from Germany to Russia in support of ‘El Tri.’
The bus appeared on TV channels across the globe and secured the friend group, for a moment, viral fame.
Now, the World Cup has come to Mexico, but Marin is staying home.
He’s not attending a single game, and the bus is gathering dust.

Ticket prices, he said, have soared beyond reach, and the atmosphere feels different from the grassroots, anything-is-possible spirit he remembers from his youth.
“It used to be for the people,” he said, describing what he sees as a shift toward a more elite event similar to Formula One racing.
Marin said the total cost for his trip to Russia, including tickets to three games, was about $5,000. For this tournament, some fans paid that for a single ‌ticket to Mexico’s opening ‌match against South Africa.
Across Mexico, Marin’s sentiment is widely shared.