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Mexico City’s Plaza de la Constitución sits in the middle of the city’s historic center and has been a gathering place for local residents since Aztec times. Nobody here calls it by its formal name, referring to it instead as the Zócalo. Framed by centuries-old cathedrals and government buildings, it is one of the largest city squares on earth, a monument to Mexico’s colonial past and cosmopolitan present.

It is also a block southwest of the Templo Mayor, a place Aztec mythology referred to as the center of the universe. In more recent times, Fifa has done its best to make the plaza the center of the footballing universe. Mexico City is preparing to host the opening match of the 2026 World Cup and four others, and the Zócalo has been converted into the city’s fan festival. A massive video screen dwarfs almost everything else in the plaza.

The blocks that surround the square are usually a hive of activity, but on Tuesday afternoon, there were very few shoppers in sight. The area has been converted into a tent city of sorts as a base for striking teachers affiliated with the Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (CNTE) seeking better working conditions. Violent clashes with riot police have ensued; protesters last week broke through the massive metal barriers that seal off the Zócalo and police used teargas to repel them, injuring five protesters in the process.

The CNTE is pushing for better wages and a return to a state-guaranteed pension system that disappeared about 20 years ago. The union has threatened to mobilize even more teachers across the country, with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum standing firm, claiming that the pension reforms would present a crippling expense to the government. In the meantime, Mexico is preparing to welcome an estimated 5 million international visitors throughout the World Cup and its government has spent about $3bn on infrastructure improvements ahead of the tournament.

The tent village outside the Zócalo was quiet on Tuesday, a stark contrast to the scene on several major avenues leading to the Estadio Azteca, renamed Estadio Ciudad de México for the World Cup. Protesters mobilized, bringing traffic to a standstill. Many have threatened to reach the stadium on Thursday, when Mexico face South Africa in the tournament opener. Sheinbaum has called the threats a “provocation”, telling reporters last week that protesters are simply seeking to weaponize the spotlight of the World Cup. She has urged police to refrain from using violence to repel protesters.

“How can any of us be happy with these responses,” said Emiliano Cárdenas, who had traveled around 400km to join the protest in Mexico City. “We understand who will benefit from the [government investment] in the World Cup. It will never be any of us – these types of things never benefit the working class, they benefit those who already have everything to begin with. We are not going anywhere.”

Outside the stadium, riot police seemed unbothered. Hundreds lined up on Tuesday, running through drills while smiling and laughing, locking their shields together to create human barriers. The scene felt borderline dystopian ahead of a tournament that bills itself as the world’s largest celebration of sport.

The protests, alongside Mexico’s final preparations for the tournament, have tempered public excitement as the World Cup approaches. The CNTE is not the only group seeking to use the World Cup as a spotlight for its grievances. Transport workers have shut streets down to protest unsafe working conditions. Farmers have pushed for reform in market prices. Mexico City’s sex workers have organized to rage against the city’s beautification projects and the installation of bike lanes, arguing that it limits their access to clientele.

Many Mexicans support these actions. Others do not. In the Zócalo, some business owners and locals alleged a large portion of the protesters weren’t teachers at all, that they were something more akin to crisis actors or simply people looking to watch the world burn. It is a somewhat widespread belief, one that Sheinbaum herself has even floated in her daily press conferences.

“We don’t even know if they are teachers,” said Salvador Lopez, from behind the counter of a knick-knack shop a few blocks from the Zócalo. “Teachers would have another manner of expressing what they want to right now. On the contrary, all of these protests are affecting all of us – our business, and whether people can reach us or not.”

Others this week mirrored his concern while adding others. Public perception of Mexico has always suffered from the country’s attachment to narco-terrorism and violence. In the United States, which is co-hosting this year’s tournament alongside Mexico and Canada, Donald Trump has long offered his often-negative views on the country’s southern neighbor. The US has its own issues of public perception, as the Trump administration enforces visa policies that have affected World Cup visitors, even players and match officials.

“We get visitors all year,” Lopez said. “And those people always leave with a good taste in their mouth, they tell us that Mexico is beautiful, full of wonderful people. Now imagine? With all of this? Here in Mexico we have a saying, los trapos sucios se lavan en casa [you wash dirty rags at home]. All of these public actions are meant to try and tell the whole world – ‘look, the Mexican government is corrupt, it’s horrible.’ It’s an embarrassment.”

There is, of course, the other side. Walk through nearly any neighborhood in the city and you’ll see the distinctive green of the Mexican national team’s kits. Much more than in the United States, advertisements for the World Cup are plastered in every corner of the city, with giant representations of Mexican players plastered on the side of skyscrapers. Vendors everywhere are hawking bootleg merchandise, with US and Mexico jerseys on offer for as little as $10.

There is excitement for the tournament, yes, and anticipation. And there is, of course, widespread interest in the prospects of the Mexico team. On the city’s metro, a pair of fans argued about El Tri’s prospects ahead of their group stage opener. Mexico’s Group A looks decent but is far from a powerhouse. After a day spent tailing protesters from the city centerto the stadium, the metro rider’s comments felt not entirely limited to sport.

“No estamos en nuestro mejor momento,” one fan said to another. “We are not in our best moment.”