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GOOOAL!!! · New Thinking for a New World

• 0:02
  Speaker 0: Welcome to New Thinking for a New World, a Tilburg Foundation podcast.
• 0:06
  Speaker 0: I am Alan Stoga, your host.
• 0:09
  Speaker 0: Each week I bring you conversations with people who think differently about the great issues that are shaping our world.
• 0:15
  Speaker 0: Geopolitics, disruptive tech, mass migration, the changing climate, culture wars, all of it is grist for our mill.
• 0:24
  Speaker 0: I hope you enjoy listening.
• 0:26
  Speaker 0: I also hope you will let me know what you think.
• 0:28
  Speaker 0: and that you join the conversation at telbergfoundation.org.
• 0:33
  Speaker 0: And now for today's episode of New Thinking for a New World.
• 0:41
  Speaker 0: This year is going to be memorable for all sorts of reasons, most of which look to be depressing.
• 0:47
  Speaker 0: On the positive side of the ledger, however, is a global event that would distract much of the world from otherwise dismal headlines.
• 0:55
  Speaker 0: The FIFA World Cup.
• 0:58
  Speaker 0: On June eleventh, the first match will be played in Mexico City's Azteca Stadium between co-host Mexico and South Africa.
• 1:06
  Speaker 0: I love Mexico, so I'm counting on Mexico to win that game, but that's a different issue.
• 1:10
  Speaker 0: On July nineteenth, the final will be played outside New York City.
• 1:15
  Speaker 0: If the past is prelude, more than five billion people will watch the hundred and four matches that comprise this year's tournament.
• 1:23
  Speaker 0: Three countries are co-hosting.
• 1:25
  Speaker 0: Mexico, Canada, and the United States.
• 1:28
  Speaker 0: Joining us today is the woman who has what I think of as the near impossible task of preparing and producing Mexico's World Cup experience.
• 1:37
  Speaker 0: Gabriel Cuevas Barone is an accomplished Mexican politician from Mexico City, former senator, representative, and delegado.
• 1:45
  Speaker 0: She's also a friend of mine for many years and a close Toborg Foundation collaborator.
• 1:50
  Speaker 0: Welcome, Gabby, to new thinking for a new world.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Alain.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Indeed, we are just starting kind of the most dynamic and complex process for getting into the FIFA World Cup, in the year of the pandemic.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: I started in this job a little bit, like, fourteen months ago, but everything is rushing right now.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: We are just about a hundred and forty days from the opening of this... huge, the largest World Cup ever, and hopefully not only the largest, but also the best World Cup ever.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: This is a huge challenge.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: This is the most seen event in the world.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: If we add, for example, all the different matches from Qatar, there were nineteen billion people seeing the different matches.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Plus, of course, social media and everything.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: So that's huge.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: But in this case, this is going to be the first time ever that a World Cup is going to be organized by three countries.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Mexico, the US, and Canada.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: It's going to start from June eleventh.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: And the final game is going to be played in New York at the MetLife Stadium in July.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: nineteen.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: And also FIFA is changing the rules.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: So we used to have World Cups for thirty two.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: nationalities or teams were playing, but now we are going to have forty-eight.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: So this adds sixty-two percent more games to be played in only around, let's say, five weeks.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: So we're going to have a lot of football and we have a lot of challenges to make that happen.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: And again, not only as the largest to walk up, but the best one.
• 3:45
  Speaker 0: When we pull on a couple of those threads, the first being We are talking at a moment when globalization is supposedly a thing of the past, when nationalism, economic nationalism, political nationalism is rising, and the counter to that argument you've just made.
• 4:06
  Speaker 0: On the one hand, we've got three countries cooperating to bring this massive event to the world.
• 4:14
  Speaker 0: And on the other hand, we know there will be a global response.
• 4:19
  Speaker 0: How do you pull that off?
• 4:21
  Speaker 0: So let's talk a bit about, first, the collaboration among Mexico, Canada, and the United States.
• 4:29
  Speaker 0: I can imagine there could be some sharp elbows in some of that cooperation.
• 4:36
  Speaker 0: Is that true?
• 4:37
  Speaker 0: Is that fair?
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: To be absolutely honest with this answer, I must go like a step behind.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: how this World Cup is really being organized, because all rules are changing, except those related to football.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: That's a good sign.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: But in terms of logistics and how this is really being organized is different.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: For example, previous World Cups were organized by a committee.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: For example, in Qatar, it was called the Supreme Committee, where the national authorities from the host country lost the... Football Federation of that same country were organising the World Cup, while FIFA was kind of supervising and being part of it, but not getting like a logistics or operative work, no?
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: In this case, everything changed.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: So there is no organising committee.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: We do not have a trilateral committee.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: We do not have even a national committee.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: FIFA decided to have sixteen cities as hosts for the World Cup.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: So we do not have like a US, Mexico, Canada World Cup.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: There's only yet one logo, but there is no like a trilateral, beautiful diplomatic committee.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: That disappeared completely.
• 6:05
  Speaker 0: That's a different issue.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: It's a different issue, but it goes to how this is being organized at the end in terms of geopolitics because I do not have to reach my counterparts in the U.S.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: or Canada to agree, for example, in terms of visas or customs or anything, because at the end it is a national debate.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Yes, there is some kind of coordination.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: We exchange information.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: We have a good dialogue.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: We have had meetings.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: I have very interesting counterparts in the U.S.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: and Canada, but at the end all goes to national and local politics.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: And that is... kind of interesting because at the end we are dealing with sixteen cities having its own committees that are being led by the stadiums not by the local governments.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: So yes it can go from one side to some kind of sports diplomacy but being honest at the end is more about how.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: are we going from sports diplomacy and non political non-diplomatic channels to have a trilateral conversation just as it happened in the final draw in Washington in December.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: At the end, an organization that was not being done directly by diplomats ended in a very positive dialogue between President Trump, Prime Minister Carney, and President Simba.
• 7:35
  Speaker 0: But let's take an example of security.
• 7:37
  Speaker 0: Clearly, there are people come from all over the world, not just the forty-eight teams and all of the people around teams, which that's thousands of people already, but all of the media, all of the supporters, the fans.
• 7:53
  Speaker 0: People are coming to Mexico for that opening game, let's say.
• 7:58
  Speaker 0: Some of these people are going to stick around for weeks.
• 8:01
  Speaker 0: and they will want to move to the United States or to Canada as their team moves, as you get into the knockout rounds, etc.
• 8:08
  Speaker 0: So there must be some degree of coordination at the least, particularly in space-like security.
• 8:15
  Speaker 0: But I put a question mark at the end of it.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: We have different rules in the three countries.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Let's go to a more, like, perhaps an easier issue.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Volunteers.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Volunteers is a lovely issue.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: It's about hard giving solidarity and having youth mostly enjoying the world cup.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: But each city, especially in the US, have different legislation in terms of volunteering.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: So we have to find, like a common thread, unifying the volunteers program.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: This thing goes... to huge and major issues like safety and security.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: We have to coordinate all national efforts with the states because the three countries are federations, so it goes even more in a more complicated institutional design, but we have to coordinate with states and with the municipalities.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, the security and safety institutions are having a very strong conversation and I believe a very positive exchange in terms, for example, of exchanging data or flags or any kind of alerts.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Because at the end, if we are able to share that information, we can develop a more strategic plan.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: I mean, Mexico, the US and Canada are having different kinds of and let's say like the red flags, no, we have very different kind of crimes or possible crimes.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: But at the end, criminals can cross borders because sometimes they know better than us regular nice cities with a visa process, no?
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: But if we are able to exchange that information as it is going, we have, for example, some exercises when we are exchanging strategies and working plans, I think that is going to strengthen the way that our three governments are working regarding being very concrete in terms of safety and security.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: But if we go, for example, to a business issue, that's a very different conversation.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: Of course, Mexico is not going to support these kinds of funds against seventy-three nationalities.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: It is very complicated, but apparently with very different approaches.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: But it is not a threat against Mexico.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: At the end, that's an opportunity for the Mexican tourist industry.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, if we are able, for example, to develop a specific strategy for Brazilians, for Colombians, for specific nationalities in Asia and Africa, then we can increase our presence in those countries.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: And I will use Brazil as an example.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Brazil is one of the most important groups in terms of nationalities enjoying a World Cup.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: They are huge and they invest a lot and they love and are passionate about World Cup.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: But if they cannot go to the U.S.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: or if they are being only scared by these bands, of course we will be very happy to have them in Mexico.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: And in two weeks Mexico is going to launch the first electronic visa.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Specifically with Brazil, that's the first example of a new strategy of cooperation and tourism.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: So I think that perhaps for us, if we have the right strategy, the right approach combining a good dialogue with the US, but at the same time strengthening our tourism industry, Mexico can receive a lot of benefits.
• 12:07
  Speaker 0: Let's talk about economics for a minute.
• 12:09
  Speaker 0: I've seen that FIFA's revenue or this world cop is on the order of nine billion dollars, something north of three to four million tickets are going to be sold.
• 12:19
  Speaker 0: You already mentioned a massive amount of online and television, broadcasting, and all the money around all of that.
• 12:29
  Speaker 0: What does all of this mean for Mexico?
• 12:31
  Speaker 0: Who pays?
• 12:31
  Speaker 0: Who finances?
• 12:32
  Speaker 0: Who benefits?
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: This has been a huge question in Mexico because to be honest, there's a lot of between misunderstanding and not the best trust in what we are explaining to people in terms of expenses and taxes and all that issue.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: So first of all, this is a very good business for Mexico.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: Mexico signed an agreement with FIFA in two thousand eighteen while President Pena was still in charge.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: And during his government, they signed a lot of privileges for FIFA and FIFA clients.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: FIFA clients, let's say, from players, teams, board, different groups.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: But there was a lot of privileges that were given by President Pena.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: We didn't agree with that signature, with those documents.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: So we started a negotiation process with FIFA that has been very successful.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: For example, Pena gave ten years of tax exemptions to FIFA.
• 13:42
  Speaker 0: Ten years.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Ten years, come on.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: They do not need ten years to organize a World Cup.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: In ten years to organize two and a half World Cups.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: But we reduced that period of time to only one year.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: So it has been a very good negotiation process with, I must say, a very good team from Pifaside as well, and the Mexican government is tough in terms of taxes.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: You don't want to be negotiating with the Mexican government when we're talking about especially those amounts of money of privilege, because it is only about the privilege.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: So that was good that we reduced that gap, that negotiation.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: For example, yesterday was announced that all players are going to be obliged to pay their part of taxes because it's part of the salary and their salary was not included into this signature with former president Peña.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: And on the other hand, we are expecting a lot of tourism here.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: I think it's a very conservative number.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: This was calculated as well in two thousand eighteen when Mexico presented the candidate to be fat.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: And they were expecting five point five million tourists coming to Mexico only for the World Cup.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: I believe this is a very conservative number because this represents, for example, one third of the total people that is going on a journey basis to Cancun.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: So of course we can expect more to happen and to come into Mexico.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: And when we go to the economic benefits, well, there is an estimate between one point eight and three billion dollars for a benefit to Mexico.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: But again, this is really small if we compare it with the economic benefits coming from the Formula One or for different international benefits in Mexico.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: So I believe that we are going to have very good economic advantages.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: a very good, a very interesting increase in terms of tourism and what they are also spending in Mexico.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: And we are mixing the World Cup with a national strategy because, yes, it is about football, but for us, there's a very strong mandate from President Sheinbaum that this is about people and how we can give football.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: to people in all Mexico, like from three cities to thirty two states.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: What do war lessons from Gaza, rethinking education, peace in Ukraine, and visionary leadership have in common?
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: They are all themes from recent episodes of this podcast.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: Check out more episodes on tellbergfoundation.org or on a platform of your choice.
• 16:35
  Speaker 0: The games in Mexico would be played in Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara.
• 16:41
  Speaker 0: They also have their own organizing responsibilities.
• 16:44
  Speaker 0: So you must coordinate with them, with FIFA, with at least distantly on some issues, the other countries, and obviously with the rest of your government, which makes your political job complicated.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: Well, to give you a very clear idea online, my office doesn't have any legal responsibility.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, my job description is not included in it.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: in any piece of legislation.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: In the US, for example, President Trump signed an executive order and decided to have a task force with an executive director.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: In Mexico, that didn't happen.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: I was appointed months before this happened in the US.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: I was the first kind of national coordinator in the four countries.
• 17:36
  Speaker 0: You were appointed by President Sheinbaum.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: Yes, I was appointed by President Sheinbaum, but as a coordinator, a general coordinator, without these kind of legal descriptions in that legislation or executive order.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: And I do not have any budget.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: I do not sign for one peso, one dollar, one whatever you want to say.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: I do not have any kind of expenses.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: So that's a huge challenge, but it's also eloquent.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: on how we are organizing this World Cup.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, Mexico is going to make history.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: We're going to be the first and only country in the world to host a World Cup for a third time.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: I mean, we had it in nineteen seventy again in eighty six and okay, forty years later, but here we are with our third World Cup.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: So we have stadiums and very high quality stadiums.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, Our stadiums are competing with the US and Canadian ones.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: So that's huge and that's a big recognition not only from FIFA but also for the fans.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: So that's huge.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: We are also a huge country in terms of tourism.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: We are the sixth largest country in terms of the number of people visiting Mexico every year.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: So we have also this very good infrastructure that we are of course improving.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: But we are also working, as you mentioned, along with the three whole cities, Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: And that is very interesting because we have to work with two governors that are coming from different political parties.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Nuevo León and Jalisco are governors coming from Movimiento Ciudadano, an opposition party.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, there's a lot of politics being involved, but in a very positive way because I believe, and this also extends to FIFA.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: We can have different jerseys, different shirts, but at the end we have to share and build and share strategies and design every good possibility because all goals are going to be shared regardless of political parties or political differences.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: So that's very interesting.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Of course, this dialogue goes to local municipal authorities, which is also interesting because we all have different responsibilities.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: But at the end, everything goes to the same table.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: And it has been quite an experience, and we are adding more ingredients.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: So that is the basic design with FIFA.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: But for example, we have also training stadiums, like training areas.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: For FIFA, because a lot of teams want to come to North America like a month before the World Cup to start training, to have their own camps.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: So another ten states in Mexico are also part of the World Cup.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: considering these training sites.
• 20:40
  Speaker 0: President Shane Baum has made it quite clear that as much as she may or may not like football, she really wants this World Cup to weave.
• 20:50
  Speaker 0: a positive legacy.
• 20:51
  Speaker 0: And I know that you're working on a number of different programs.
• 20:56
  Speaker 0: Can you talk just a little bit about the Social World Cup, which you explained to me once, and I think it's absolutely fascinating.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: So, Mexico has a very different communication strategy.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: if we compare it with the U.S.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: or Canada, even that presidential champions like football, she's not politicizing this event.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: It is precisely the opposite.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: What she has instructed us is to move this event from three cities to thirty-two states.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: And that's precisely this kind of social woke up or Mondial Social or Mexico, twenty-twenty-six.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: That's the purpose, the idea.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: So what is Mexico?
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: twenty-twenty-six?
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: That's a national celebration that has a very comprehensive approach and with the idea to have football everywhere in all parts of Mexico.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: So it includes, for example, and that's going to be announced very soon, a lot of national cups, like for schools.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: And that one for schools is fascinating because our public education system has twenty two million students.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: So even if only ten percent of that universe raised their hands and say, I want to play football, then we are going to have a two million people students cup.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: So that's great.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: And the same goes for different kind of populations, like the elders, like women, people with certain disabilities.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: So we are reaching different kind of populations to have like all Mexicans moving and having an exercise because this is also related to a health campaign.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Mexico, perhaps only after the US, has a huge number of obesity, diabetes, overweight, prevalence.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Our country is really struggling with public health.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: So if we use the work of not only to talk or to see football in a screen, but to play it, then we can change our daily habits and to start having more physical activation.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: Of course, we are also having a huge and super interesting cultural program.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: We are expanding the time slot in terms of having two months for the cultural program.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: matching, of course, with the World Cup, to have different experiences for Mexicans, but also for visitors that are coming from abroad.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: And we're also repairing football fields, because not everything.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: It's a stadium in Mexico.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: It was very, like, come on for us about twenty years ago to play football in the streets, a cascarita, we said.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: So we want to recover also that part in our communities because that strengthens the social ties.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: That helps us also to grow in a different way.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: When you have a ball and you have a team as a kid, you know how to solve differences with your community.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: You know how to have a more frequent dialogue.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: you get more friends in the wrong community.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: So that's also part of this process.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: How are we dealing with insecurity, with drunk consumption, from fighting the causes?
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Not only in terms of having this idea of cops and jails, but also to strengthen the social ties in our community.
• 24:54
  Speaker 0: There's an amazing number of moving parts in the world that you're coping with now.
• 25:00
  Speaker 0: What are you most worried about?
• 25:02
  Speaker 0: What keeps you up at night?
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: Oh, a lot of things.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: We have a lot of happy problems.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: But I would like to underline this idea of happy problems.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: Because first of all, of course, it's difficult and challenging to organize a World Cup with a very reduced time, I mean.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: In total, I'm going to have only a year and a half to organize a World Cup.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: But thanks God, I am having a fascinating team.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: all the federal government in Mexico is very enthusiastic and doing the part of the job to make this happen.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: So at the end, I have a huge and fascinating team.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: But I think that one of the most pressing issues is that, yes, the positive and easy number is to say that we're about a hundred and forty days from the opening of the World Cup.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: But to be honest, The last week of March, we are going to receive four playoffs in Mexico, two in Guadalajara, two in Monterey, and in March of the twenty-eighth, the Aztec, Orbanorte, or the Mexico City Stadium, because they're exchanging names.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: But it is going to be open with Mexico against Portugal, which has a huge rating.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: So I think that our real time slot to have everything ready is less than two months.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: So I have to give all results, all procedures from visa issuing, customs, safety and security, you name it.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: I think my job has to do with everything except football, except the funny stuff.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: But we have to deliver everything in only sixty days.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: So, for example, for those players, we are going to be able to evaluate what work to find.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: what needs to be improved, where we are having more opportunities.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: But of course, it's going to be a very challenging process.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: And I think time is the most valuable and complicated resource here.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: So perhaps it's time what I need and perhaps I am not sleeping well at night.
• 27:10
  Speaker 0: Einstein proved a long time ago that time is not linear and it accelerates.
• 27:15
  Speaker 0: And I suspect time for you is accelerating even as we speak.
• 27:20
  Speaker 0: Last question, a football question.
• 27:22
  Speaker 0: Can El Tree make it to the second round, to the shootout round?
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: I am a Mexican and of course I really would like to have my national team to hold the trophy and to say we won for the first time at World Cup.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: So that's my dream, my expectation.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: It is not in my hands.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: It is on the team side.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: But yes, the Mexican heart.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: We have, I think, a very passionate to... feeling for our team.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, if you see Mexicans behind the screen when we are seeing our national team, regardless of how they are playing, we're yelling and shouting just as we were running after them.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: It's like being part of it.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: It's a very national expression.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: We love football.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: We have very intense feelings about football, about the ball, about our teams.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: And the idea also is to use this very, very important moment for finding the children, the most talented children, girls and boys who are dreaming on playing as professionals in football and to give them all possible opportunities.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: So what we really expect, it's not only this very good result for our team.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: but also a good outcome and a real moment of transformation for our children to be able to dream and fulfill those dreams in professional sports.
• 28:55
  Speaker 0: Gabriela Cuevas, thank you very much for this conversation.
• 28:58
  Speaker 0: Good luck in the next weeks, months, I'd say years, but... I want
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: to run three days, but thank you.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much to Alan and only a very friendly reminder to the people who is... seeing or hearing this podcast.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: First of all, be careful on where you're buying your tickets for the World Cup.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: Use official sites, mostly FIFA.com, but there are a lot of frauds happening online, so please be careful on that regard.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: And the second announcement is that everyone, all nationalities, are welcome to Mexico.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: We are expecting the world here.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: If you want to really not only see, but to feel and live our football world cup, Mexico is the place to go.
• 29:47
  Speaker 0: There's absolutely nothing I can add to that, so thank you very much.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Alan.
• 29:55
  Speaker 0: Thank you for listening to this episode of New Thinking from New World.
• 29:58
  Speaker 0: I'm Alan Stoga, podcast host, and I look forward to your joining our next conversation.
• 30:04
  Speaker 0: Remember, tell us what you think at tellbergfoundation.org.