How the Netherlands' Orange Wave Became a Mexican Governor's Campaign Prop
A World Cup match in Monterrey exposed how a governor with presidential ambitions used the tournament as campaign infrastructure and got caught.
On the morning of 28 June 2026, Samuel García, the governor of the Mexican state of Nuevo León, boarded a police helicopter and flew to the United States border. Waiting for him was a vintage cream-and-orange bus, the Oranjebus that Dutch supporters had driven south for the World Cup.
The governor climbed aboard. The Netherlands was set to play Morocco in Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo León.
“Muy contento,” he posted on social media, “se me cumplió el sueño de subirme al Orange Bus.” (Very happy, I fulfilled my dream of climbing onboard the Orange Bus.”
The stunt on the Oranjebus was framed as a politician doing a PR coup by welcoming foreign supporters to his country and state.
But García, a Mexican presidential hopeful, is now in a spot of bother.
Why is he in trouble?
García had wanted this fixture for months. Back in January, he bet the equivalent of his monthly salary that the Netherlands would play in Monterrey.
He declared match day a public holiday, closing schools and non-essential offices. He arranged for free beer, cabrito and tacos to be handed out across Parque Fundidora and the Macroplaza, and booked Enrique Iglesias to perform.
