When São Paulo beat Mexico at the Azteca | OneFootball

The 1980s were fruitful years for the Tricolor in matches against national teams. In 1981, another clash of this kind brought São Paulo a great result: an emphatic victory over Mexico at the Azteca Stadium. It is well worth remembering, especially on this Wednesday the 24th, when the Mexican side faces the Czech team in another round of the 2026 World Cup.

The story of that match begins with São Paulo’s tour of Europe, where on May 21 they beat Milan at San Siro in Milan, 2–1 (goals by Paulo César and Renato). From Italy, the Tricolor went on to Mexico, where it would face the local national team. From there, it would also travel to the United States for three more matches: against Tecos UAG of Mexico in Los Angeles; the Strikers of the United States in Fort Lauderdale; and the famous Cosmos, also from the United States, on the outskirts of New York. A game in Guatemala had also been scheduled, but it was canceled.

After 23 hours of air travel between Milan and Mexico City and several connections, coach Carlos Alberto Silva had problems naming São Paulo’s starters, as Zé Sérgio and Darío Pereyra were injured. In the end, the former still managed to take the field. Despite the physical issues, the São Paulo players handled the Mexican team’s early pressure well and, near the end of the first half, took their chance to open the scoring through Serginho Chulapa (39th minute).

In the second half, the MorumBIS Tricolor (since the opponent is also known by the nickname Tricolor) took off and truly could have inflicted a historic rout. Renato made it 2–0 in the 21st minute, and Valtinho completed the scoring in the 37th, making it 3–0, aside from the countless chances that were wasted. And all of that with one man less, since Heriberto had been sent off for protesting the refereeing…

At one point in the match, the Mexican crowd at the Azteca began shouting “olé” at every passing sequence by the São Paulo players, as a criticism of the local players’ performance. The next day, newspapers ran headlines such as “São Paulo humiliated the National Team,” “A sad night,” “The selected side sank against a real team” (Ovaciones), and “National team? What a disgrace” (El Universal).

The opposing coach himself said that São Paulo did whatever it wanted. “They did whatever they wanted with us. São Paulo played very well and we played very badly. That is the reality. Their long-range shots and their speed threw us into disarray,” he concluded.

The complaints were more than justified. In the following weeks, Mexico would still lose to PSV and the Spain national team. By the end of that year, worse was to come: a defeat to El Salvador and a string of draws kept the national team out of the World Cup in Spain.

As for São Paulo, all that remained was to pack the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol prize into their luggage and continue the journey by plane, for many more hours, to Los Angeles and carry on with the mid-season tour (note: São Paulo drew 0–0 with Tecos, 3–3 with the Strikers, and 2–2 with Cosmos within the span of a week, crossing the United States from west to east).

05.26.1981. International FriendlyMexico City (Mexico). Azteca StadiumMEXICO NATIONAL TEAM 0 x 3 SÃO PAULO

SPFC: Toinho; Getúlio, Oscar, Gassem and Marinho Chagas (Nei); Almir, Renato (Valtinho) and Heriberto; Paulo César, Serginho Chulapa (Assis) and Zé Sérgio (Élvio). Coach: Carlos Alberto Silva. Goals: Serginho Chulapa, 39/1, Renato, 21/2; Valtinho, 37/2. Red card: Heriberto, 5/2

Mexico: Francisco Castrejón; José Luis Alderete, Juan Manuel Álvarez, Gustavo Vargas and José Luis López; Pedro Munguía, Manuel Manzo and Guillermo Mendizábal; Héctor Tapia (Sergio Lira), Ricardo Castro (Adrian Camacho) and Hugo Sánchez. Coach: Raúl Cárdenas.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.