Fan who went viral blessing Mexico's team predicts World Cup win on Saturday

A Texas woman who went viral for blessing the members of Mexico's national soccer team is predicting that her team will once again triumph in their Saturday match against South Korea.

"She feels that it's 2-0 ... Mexico is going to win by 2," said Jose Gonzales, son of Martha Gonzales. 

He says she is now known by the nickname "Mexico's grandma." She caught the world's attention when her relatives tweeted out a video of her blessing each Mexican soccer player as the team was shown on TV. 

"My mother does this every time she watches soccer with us, any international games," Gonzales told As It Happens host Carol Off. 

The video was taken in El Paso at the start of Mexico's game against Germany last Sunday. Martha Gonzalez made the sign of the cross in front of each player — with extra blessings for goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa. 

She then took out her rosary and continued to pray as play got underway, her son explained.

"We knew that Germany is the world champ ... and Mexico, on the other side, had a lot of uncertainty going on," he said. "It was David vs. Goliath."

Against the odds, Mexican player Hirving Lozano scored the lone goal of the game in the 35th minute, winning the match. 

So did Martha Gonzalez' blessings have something to do with it? 

"We truly believe that an act of faith like that really does help the team win," he said. "We know that God's will was for Mexico on that day."

Since the video was posted on Twitter, it has been viewed more than 18 million times — and fans from other countries have reached out hoping she can bless their teams as well. 

"Can we borrow her for Nigeria?" tweets one fan. "If only she did this for Argentina..." tweets another.

Requests for blessings are also coming in from outside the world of soccer fandom. 

"People tell her, 'please send a blessing my way, so I can get a girlfriend', 'please send a blessing my way, so that my life gets better,'" Gonzalez said. 

Jose Gonzalez said his mother has taken all of the attention in stride.

Describing her as hardworking and humble, he explained that she came to the U.S. from Mexico "to make a better life, and with her work, she's now the owner of a store." 

Since the video went viral, she's been receiving interview requests from all over the world. Gonzalez said she's excited to share her "message of faith" with others.  

Of course, all of that global attention will have to be put on hold on Saturday morning, when she stands up to do what she's done for years: bless each Mexican player, and then sit down and pray.