Images of tourists cowering under the fire of a gunman atop the Pyramid of the Moon at the Teotihuacán archaeological site have dealt a severe blow to Mexico’s international image as a safe destination in a year when the country, a co-host for the tournament, expects to receive five million visitors for the World Cup alone. A Canadian woman was killed in the attack, and seven others were wounded by gunfire — two of them children aged six and 13. Six more people suffered injuries while fleeing. All were foreigners. The assailant, who was carrying a backpack with ammunition and a knife, shot himself at the scene.

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Entering or leaving Guadalajara has become an ordeal. Construction is everywhere, and traffic jams on the city’s main roads can exceed 35 minutes. Accidents are frequent, and social protests are mounting, bringing the capital of Jalisco to a boiling point weeks before it hosts four World Cup matches. The sewage crisis, which has been affecting hundreds of thousands of residents for months, is the latest to compound other persistent problems in the city and its metropolitan area, home to five million people. Rising public transportation fares, complaints about the city’s “beautification” efforts, and a surge in measles cases in the state have increased the pressure on authorities who are seeing multiple challenges unfold less than 100 days before the start of the world’s biggest sporting event.

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