For many fans, Mexico’s role as one of three World Cup host nations, combined with the team’s run to the knockout stages, created something bigger than soccer: a rare opportunity to celebrate an identity that, for much of the previous year, had been associated with anxiety and uncertainty.

Supporters who only months earlier had been concerned about immigration enforcement were now singing the Mexican national anthem, waving Mexican flags and wearing El Tri T-shirts in public areas packed with families. For many, expressing their Mexican identity has never been at odds with being American.

Arellano says Mexican soccer fans were once frequently portrayed as “unpatriotic” for displaying Mexican flags, particularly during the anti-immigration politics of the 1990s.

“The expression of these fan bases has grown larger as America has become more diverse,” he says.

Like millions of other fans, he hoped Mexico would pull off one more upset.

“The cynic in me says this is what always happens to Mexico. We’re good, but we can never really compete against the world’s elite,” he says.

“But you know what? We never gave up. So I’m proud of what they did. We didn’t give up until the end. England were just a superior team.”

As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary amid renewed debates about immigration and national identity, diaspora communities have demonstrated not only in Mexico but also in countries such as Scotland, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Morocco and Egypt, revealing an America where millions of people maintain deep cultural ties to more than one home.

For many Mexican-Americans, it became a celebration of two homes they proudly call their own.

In what Gustavo Arellano describes as “a really difficult time” for Latino communities, this World Cup gave many something they were missing.

“It was,” he says, “an opportunity to express joy.”