Thursday’s hours passed too quickly for Jaime Díaz (Kansas, 28 years old). There were still two days left before Mexico faced Jamaica in its first Copa América match, but every last detail was already being finalized. “I am preparing my trip to Houston today, and tomorrow I will arrive at noon,” he wrote to this newspaper that same Thursday. Díaz is one of the thousands of Mexican fans motivated by the team’s participation in the great tournament that brings together the most outstanding players on the continent. The large number of Mexicans settled in the United States due to its border situation with the country and the large number of fans who plan to travel to the cities where the national team will hold its matches create a familiar atmosphere for El Tri, which will play as in home despite participating in US territory.
Mexico and Jamaica faced off Saturday in Houston, Texas, a city historically marked by Mexican-American settlement, motivated in part during Texas Independence in the mid-1830s. 2020 census ―the most recent from the US Administration― indicates that almost half of the inhabitants in Houston ―more than one million of the 2.3 million who live there― were Latino, the majority Mexican. The US population of Mexican origin increases its number, taking data from the entire US territory, around 40 million, according to the data that the Department of State in mid-2022.
The motivation with which Díaz packed his suitcase was rewarded on Saturday. Mexico won against Reggae Boyz (1-0) in a match marked by the injury of the Mexican captain, Edson Álvarez, and by the constant attacks on goal by both teams. The victory was a breath of fresh air for a team that has suffered constant irregularities in recent years. There is no sign of discouragement from the fans who saw the tricolor play in its best period. “So many years of triumph, being the giants of Concacaf and qualifying for the World Cup… The fans have the mentality that Mexico will always win. We have gone through difficult years, but that always happens with any team.”
When the fans follow you everywhere
The Mexican fans are bustling throughout the United States. Richard Guel, Colonel (San Antonio, 52 years old), went to see the team in the last three friendlies prior to the tournament: in their victory against Bolivia, in Chicago (1-0); and in their defeats against Uruguay, in Colorado (0-4), and Brazil, in Texas (2-3). But he did not travel to Houston on Saturday, he had to watch the game from Phoenix. “I spent all my money,” he confesses without drama. The Colonel is one of the Mexicans who started Pancho Villa’s Army, a movement of fans of the national team that emerged from a blog created by his friend in Texas, in 2013, and that seeks to support the national team without ifs or buts. “We try to do a lot of things for the fans, for the people. For example, here in Phoenix, we are going to bring Ramón Morales (former soccer player for the national team) to sign autographs, and we are going to watch Mexico’s game against Jamaica,” he explained.
The stars and stripes are dyed green on the Mexican team’s shirts when the players land in California. David Zarate (Los Angeles, 29 years old) sees a change in the atmosphere when he arrives at that moment in the city of Los Angeles. “Yes, the Mexican community is felt a lot, especially when the national team plays. If they are not in California, I go with my friends to any restaurant or any bar that has the game on,” he explains. In the Zarate neighborhood, people carried the flag on their trucks and even their bicycles during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar: “In any way they could show that they are fans of the team.” He has already bought his tickets for the game against Venezuela on Wednesday, which will be played in the same city.
Born north of the border, but Mexican
Guel’s story is a reflection of the situation of many Mexican migrants. His mother traveled pregnant from Castaños (Coahuila) to San Antonio to celebrate Thanksgiving with her family. Chance wanted it to shine right there, on a special day for Americans. But he soon returned to Mexico. “No more “It was one or two weeks that I didn’t have my Mexican certificate,” he reveals. For personal reasons he returned to the Texan city when he was still a child. His father had to cross the Rio Grande to be reunited. “Look, on this side, from my point of view, many Mexicans, although they are blood brothers, do not forgive us. They always tell us pochos (a pejorative term that refers to Mexicans who adopt American culture), but they don’t even know my history,” he laments.
Zarate fondly remembers the times he has visited Puebla, where his father was born, and Mexico City, where his mother was born. “It is something very different from what there is here in the United States. In other words, she feels a lot about the community, the friendship and the affection of the people. If you are not in the Latin community, there are times when it feels different,” explains the Los Angeles fan, who was raised under the customs of Mexico. “I have Mexican roots. I feel more proud to be Mexican than American. It’s different people, different culture. “My parents raised me with that feeling of being kind, loving,” he says.
A support, and a martyrdom?
Díaz always supported the Mexican team, it never crossed his mind to support the American team. “When I was little I always followed Mexico with my family (originally from Camargo, Chihuahua). I was born in a Mexican family, all Mexican. I went to school with only students from the United States and all that, but it never occurred to me (to support the American team), I have always gone to Mexico and I will always go to Mexico,” the fan, who lived from the victory against Jamaica was very close.
Arteaga’s left-footed shot in Houston gave a victory to Mexico, which served to improve the self-esteem of a fan disappointed by the managerial errors that the Mexican Football Federation has suffered in recent years. But Mexican fans have not been far from the focus of controversy either. Before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the team accumulated almost 20 sanctions, financial and stadium closures due to the “puto” insults that came from the stands every time the rival cleared the ball. FIFA even threatened to leave it without a World Cup when it learned of the pejorative meaning of the term, used in Mexico to refer to a homosexual.
The intensity of the fans also led to critical points in certain games. A Mexican fan stabbed another during a Gold Cup match against Qatar in July of last year, leaving a crude image online of the fan spurting blood from his chest. “(There are people who) don’t know how to behave and then that doesn’t help the team. If they lose, then the famous chant comes out. fucking to punish them. But they don’t know what they’re doing, and they don’t know that it doesn’t help the team,” says El Coronel, who believes that these negative attitudes are exacerbated by alcohol consumption, almost a ritual for many fans in this type of event.
The performance of the Mexican team against Jamaica has fans dreaming of a victory against Venezuela. A win would open the door to regaining the favoritism of the American public in a cup that the Mexican team has not managed to win so far.
-Do you think it is convenient to support the Mexican team in its worst moments or deny it?
―I take it from this point of view: it is like part of me, of my family. Your children are also going to make you angry, your children are going to fail you, but you want to correct them, sometimes scold them or whatever. But that love never leaves you, right? Guel reflects.
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