Mexico fans flood Southern California streets to celebrate team's berth in World Cup round of 16

Mexico reached the FIFA World Cup Round of 16 for the eighth time on Tuesday night with its 2-0 win over Ecuador, and fans took the Southern California streets to celebrate the moment. 

As SkyCal flew towards Huntington Park, dozens of rounds of fireworks were seen exploding over parts of Los Angeles, just minutes after the whistles blew in Estadio Azteca, surpassing the Round of 32 for the first time since 2018. 

After the massive celebrations that had taken place in parts of downtown Los Angeles and Orange County following El Tri's recent wins, police were already stationed by the time the game ended. With multiple patrol cars stationed at the intersection of Pacific Boulevard and Florence Avenue, the fans instead gathered en masse on Pacific and Gage Avenue, where the celebrations included dancing, flag waving and more fireworks.

Under the iconic Whittier Boulevard sign in East Los Angeles, a large group of people had gathered, where many were seen waving the Mexican flag as fireworks shot into the sky. Some law enforcement officers had gathered nearby, where they appeared to be monitoring the crowd, but allowing them to celebrate. 

Much of the same was seen in Pacoima, where a hundreds of people were spotted dancing and watching fireworks at the intersection of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Van Nuys Boulevard.

Earlier in the week, ahead of Tuesday's game, Santa Ana Police Department officers warned people that they would be cracking down on World Cup celebrations after similar scenes unfolded on Fourth and Main last week after their win over Czechia.

A much larger crowd was seen in downtown Santa Ana following the Mexico-Ecuador match, where more dancing and fireworks were seen, while some people jumped on top of cars and danced in the back of pickup trucks. At one point, it appeared that a large fight had broken out, but the parties were separated and the celebration continued. 

This is a developing story. Check back for details.