SANTA CLARA — After 364 days, Mexico has fallen, and fallen hard, losing 7-0 to Chile.
El Tri had a 22-game unbeaten streak and international attention since last losing June 19, 2015, to Ecuador 2-1 in the Copa America.
Everything was ready Saturday night for Mexico to celebrate its biggest tournament victory outside its home soil in the Copa America Centenario quarterfinals at sold-out Levi’s Stadium, where 70,547 fans created an electric atmosphere.
El Tri was looking to complete a calendar year unblemished and herald a new era for Mexican football.
Then a soccer disaster unfolded as Mexico allowed seven goals in an official match for the first time since 1928.
“It was Total Football,” Chilean star Arturo Vidal said in Spanish after the victory.
Or, for the Mexicans, total annihilation, leading one reporter to ask coach Jose Carlos Osorio if he would resign. Osorio rejected the notion of stepping down after his first loss since taking over the team in October.
“I’d like to offer you my most heartfelt apology to the Mexican people,” Osorio said in Spanish “It was shameful.”
No one had an explanation for what unfolded in a game witnessed by the largest crowd to see a sporting event at Levi’s Stadium outside Super Bowl 50.
Eduardo Vargas scored a stunning four goals, while Alexis Sanchez had a goal and two assists in the beat-down.
The defending South American champions came out firing as promised to silence the overwhelmingly Mexican-flavored crowd and advancing to the semifinals Wednesday in Chicago against Colombia.
Mexico looked as if it were flattened by 10 red-jerseyed bulldozers, although the scene at Levi’s resembled something from Estadio Azteca, El Tri’s Mexico City stadium.
Many of the green-white-and-red-adorned Mexican fans ignored pleas to not use a traditional homophobic chant when the opposing goalkeeper had the ball.
El Tri’s supporters screamed the chant throughout the game, only a week since the Orlando massacre at the gay nightclub Pulse. On Thursday, soccer officials condemned “any chants or actions that are derogatory or offensive during our matches.”
The fans eventually turned their anger on El Tri, taunting the players with the same ugly chants once the game got out of hand.
“I feel really ashamed to make the fans and all Mexicans go through this,” midfielder Hector Herrera told reporters. “At the end, it hurt that our own fans were screaming at us and our own goalkeeper.”
Chilean coach Juan Antonio Pizzi downplayed the superb performance after enduring criticisms of his own.
“I don’t have a magic wand to say we’re going to score seven goals and win,” he said.
Osorio, on the other hand, looked like a man out of sorts in the aftermath of what he described as a sporting tragedy.
“I made all the mistakes,” he said in Spanish. “They won every single ball every time we pressed them. On defense, we were very fragile.”
The aggressive start led to a goal in the 16th minute when Edson Puch slipped a ball inside the near post as El Tri’s goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa scrambled to get to his line.
Chile put an exclamation point on the first half when Vargas scored in the 44th minute, taking a feed from Alexis Sanchez while charging inside the penalty area.
Mexican fans started throwing trash on the field when Sanchez scored Chile’s third goal in the 49th minute.
Fights brought out in the stands by the final 10 minutes as fans acted out.
Mexico entered with so much promise. It departed with nightmares.
Contact Elliott Almond at 408-920-5865. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/elliottalmond.
