{"id":133408,"date":"2026-06-15T15:26:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T21:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/meet-merlin-the-duck-a-mexico-city-streetside-regular-turned-world-cup-mascot\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T02:00:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T08:00:31","slug":"meet-merlin-the-duck-a-mexico-city-streetside-regular-turned-world-cup-mascot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/meet-merlin-the-duck-a-mexico-city-streetside-regular-turned-world-cup-mascot\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Merlin the duck, a Mexico City streetside regular turned World Cup mascot"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A
A duck named Merlin, dressed in a Mexico national soccer team jersey, follows his caretaker Christian Gomez as they cross the street in Mexico City, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MEXICO CITY (AP) \u2014 Juli\u00e1n Qui\u00f1ones and Ra\u00fal Jim\u00e9nez may have scored the goals, but a duck stole the show.<\/p>\n

As Mexico celebrated its World Cup-opening victory<\/a> over South Africa on Thursday, Merlin, a 2-year-old duck dressed in the national team\u2019s colors, became an unlikely internet sensation and the tournament\u2019s first unofficial mascot.<\/p>\n

Images of Merlin parading through Mexico City, wearing a Mexican national team<\/a> jersey \u2014 and socks \u2014 as thousands of fans celebrated, quickly went viral, racking up millions of views across social media. Overnight, and as if by the magic of the famous wizard who inspired his name, Merlin had captivated the internet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to see Merlin in the stadium,\u201d one user wrote. \u201cThis duck is already a national treasure,\u201d said another. \u201cThe best thing about the World Cup so far,\u201d declared a third.<\/p>\n

In Mexico City<\/a>, however, Merlin was already something of a local celebrity.<\/p>\n

A familiar sight at fairs and events in the historic city center, the duck regularly accompanies his owner, Carla G\u00f3mez, who sells water and soft drinks from a little cart each weekend. Along the way, the animal attracts plenty of delighted squeals, affectionate greetings and eager requests from passersby for a photo together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t like to leave him alone at home; we like him to be with us. He\u2019s our baby,\u201d G\u00f3mez said. \u201cHe\u2019s the baby, the sole heir to all my possessions and now an idol.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rain or shine, Merlin follows G\u00f3mez and her young son Cristian through some of the capital\u2019s best-known landmarks, including Alameda Central, the Palace of Fine Arts and the Z\u00f3calo square.<\/a> The duck shares a particularly close bond with Cristian, for whom he was originally a gift, becoming what G\u00f3mez describes as the boy’s inseparable companion.<\/p>\n

\u201cMerlin had already become famous for selling bottled water,\u201d G\u00f3mez said, recalling her surprise at her pet\u2019s sudden rise to fame.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is always with us; we never imagined he\u2019d become such a sensation,\u201d she added. \u201cWe weren\u2019t expecting it.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday, G\u00f3mez \u2014 and Merlin \u2014 met with FIFA representatives to shoot photos and a commercial. Now, the family hopes Mexico\u2019s famous feathered supporter can continue bringing luck to the host nation<\/a>, which is staging the World Cup for the third time after hosting the tournament in 1970 and 1986 \u2014 this time a co-host alongside Canada and the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cMexico, we are with you,\u201d G\u00f3mez said. \u201cAnd Merlin is your No. 1 fan.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP World Cup coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/fifa-world-cup<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A
A duck named Merlin, dressed in a Mexico national soccer team jersey, stands at a cafe next to his caretaker Cristian Gomez in Mexico City, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Carla
Carla Gomez blows on to her duck Merlin, dressed in a Mexico national soccer team jersey, at a park in Mexico City, during the World Cup, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"People
People take pictures of a duck named Merlin, dressed in a Mexico national soccer team jersey, at a park in Mexico City, Monday, June 15, 2026, during the World Cup. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A duck named Merlin wears a Mexico national soccer team jersey, during the World Cup in Mexico City, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A duck named Merlin, dressed in a Mexico national soccer team jersey, follows his caretaker Christian Gomez as they cross the street in Mexico City, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)(AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte) MEXICO CITY (AP) \u2014 Juli\u00e1n Qui\u00f1ones and Ra\u00fal Jim\u00e9nez may have scored the goals, but a duck stole the show. As […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":133409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-133408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133408"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135289,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133408\/revisions\/135289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133408"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=133408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}