At 99 years old, Jos\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez Castillo dons the green jersey of the Mexican National Soccer Team once again, carrying with him nearly a century of football history. <\/p>\n
Born on December 17, 1926, just four years before FIFA hosted the first World Cup in Uruguay, Jos\u00e9 has witnessed every edition of the tournament\u2014except for the 1942 and 1946 World Cups, which were suspended due to World War II. \u201cYes, I have lived through all the World Cups,\u201d he says with a broad smile, his memory effortlessly spanning the last hundred years. <\/p>\n
Jos\u00e9\u2019s story is more than just about football. He recalls the iconic Mexico 70 and Mexico 86 World Cups, but also the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, where he contributed to the organization. \u201cWe wore the red of the Olympics and the green of the Tricolor,\u201d he shares, still holding onto memories, documents, and memorabilia from that era. He speaks of the Olympic ceremony, the torch, and the days when Mexico became a global stage, even as the country grappled with the tragedy of October 2. <\/p>\n
Before the stadiums filled with cheering fans and color broadcasts, Jos\u00e9 served as a sergeant in the Mexican Army during the war years when the World Cup was on hold. Stationed at the 24th Military Zone in Cuernavaca, Morelos, he recalls how football was a vital escape for soldiers: \u201cWe played football at the barracks,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
Today, very few witnesses remain from that generation. In Tlaxcala, only Jos\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez Castillo and Luis Sastr\u00e9 from Chiautempan\u2014who will turn 100 on June 20\u2014carry these memories. <\/p>\n
Among Jos\u00e9\u2019s treasured football memories is Alejandro L\u00f3pez Rodr\u00edguez, known as El Huamantla, whom he regards as the best footballer from Huamantla. L\u00f3pez shone in the 1950s with Club Puebla, a team officially founded in 1944 to compete in Mexico\u2019s First Division. \u201cWe paid tribute to him two years ago,\u201d Jos\u00e9 recalls, emphasizing the importance of pioneers like L\u00f3pez in shaping Tlaxcala\u2019s football history during the early days of professional soccer in Mexico. <\/p>\n
Known affectionately as \u201cChech\u00e9,\u201d Jos\u00e9 is a living archive of football history among family and friends. His collection includes stamps, almanacs, programs, Olympic souvenirs, and even a recently acquired model of the Estadio Azteca\u2014then called Estadio Ciudad de M\u00e9xico during the World Cup. <\/p>\n
Looking to the present, Jos\u00e9 follows the young Mexican talent Gilberto Mora, just 17 years old, with hope. \u201cWe have a good team. Hopefully, with young Mora, we\u2019ll go further,\u201d he says. His grandchildren share his passion and have attended matches in this World Cup, a privilege Jos\u00e9 watches with pride from home. <\/p>\n
As he watches the 2026 World Cup unfold, Jos\u00e9 embodies the history of modern football: born before the first World Cup, living through the war that paused it, witnessing legends like Pel\u00e9, Maradona, and Messi, helping organize the 1968 Olympics, and now, at 99, still proudly wearing the green jersey. <\/p>\n
When Jos\u00e9 speaks about the World Cup, it\u2019s not just as a fan\u2014it\u2019s as a privileged witness to nearly a century of football\u2019s evolution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At 99 years old, Jos\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez Castillo dons the green jersey of the Mexican National Soccer Team once again, carrying with him nearly a century of football history. Born on December 17, 1926, just four years before FIFA hosted the first World Cup in Uruguay, Jos\u00e9 has witnessed every edition of the tournament\u2014except for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nacional"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2106"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2107,"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106\/revisions\/2107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}