Mexico are playing in their 18th World Cup but have only won one knock-out match over all the years, at home in 1986 against Bulgaria.
That 2-0 win four decades ago came at iconic Azteca Stadium in the capital which is also the venue for Tuesday's last 32 match against Ecuador and where they have never lost a World Cup match.
Mexico breezed through the group stage by winning all their three games but will be wary of their South American opponents who have grown confidence from a 2-1 against Germany that saw them qualify.
However, Mexico boasts an unbeaten record at Azteca Stadium in the World Cup which they want to continue - with the incentive of having a last 16 match against England or Austria at the same venue before having to move.
Mexico have seven wins and two draws from nine matches played at Azteca in 1970, 1986 and the current edition.
They went out in the 1970 quarter-finals, then the first knock-out game, in Puebla, losing 4-1 against Italy.
In 1986, they travelled to Monterrey after beating Bulgaria at Azteca, and lost 4-1 on penalties in the quarter-finals against Germany, who like Italy 16 years earlier reached the final.
Mexico have since lost their first knock-out game in the last 16 seven times in a row before going out in the 2022 group stage.
Now they are back at Azteca for the second time in the knock-outs, and forward Guillermo Martínez said that "the fans are very important for us."
The infobae portal vowed that "the Azteca will be on fire" with the vast majority of the 80,000 expected to roar on El Tri.
The Esto paper meanwhile asked whether coach Javier Aguirre could be their "World Cup lucky charme."
Aguirre was a midfielder in 1986 when they beat Bulgaria at Azteca and the coach on a first term when Mexico beat Ecuador 2-1 in their only previous World Cup meeting in the 2002 group stage.
