Caps supporters go it alone in Mexico
Atmosphere in inland Monterrey proves to be less menacing than advertised
A pair of British-born Vancouver Whitecaps fans were surprised to feel right at home in the scruffy surroundings of Monterrey, Mexico, for Tuesday’s game between the Whitecaps and Monterrey’s Tigres UANL.
Andrew McFee and Rod Coleman made the trip to catch the CONCACAF Champions League semifinal match between the soccer powerhouse Tigres and the underdog Whitecaps, and found themselves the only Caps fans among 43,000 spectators in Estadio Universitario’s away section.
“There wasn’t one person who told us that going was a good idea,” said Coleman, who works at a Vancouver international school. “I work with a bunch of Mexican students, and even they were saying don’t go.”
Monterrey, an inland city of just over one million people, isn’t known for its tourist trade.
“What struck us was that it was more authentic than the North American experience,” said McFee, 36.
The friends met about four years ago in Vancouver, bonding over their shared fandom for Britain’s Liverpool FC.
“Around the grounds in Liverpool, you have guys selling unofficial merchandise, scarves, badges, there’s food sellers,” McFee said.
“When we were walking around the stadium in Monterrey you had the same thing.”
“It’s something you don’t really get anywhere in North America,” said Coleman, 31, adding that the pair have followed the Whitecaps to games in 13 North American cities.
Neither of the two speak Spanish, so they got the hotel to call them a cab for the 45-minute ride to the stadium.
“The guy was chatting on his phone as he was driving us and the only words we could pick up were ‘gringo’ and ‘idioto,’ ” Coleman said. “We were pretty sure he was talking about us.”
Following the local team to international away games is a tradition back in Liverpool, Coleman said, adding his two-night trip to Mexico cost him about $900.
They wondered at first whether they’d be safe amid the Tigres fans. So before the game started the pair wandered up to the stadium’s empty away section, where a trio of cops stood watch.
“That’s what you do (in England),” McFee said. “About two minutes before kickoff the sergeant and the two police officers whistled, made a hand gesture, and left.”
Tigres management had assumed the away section would be empty, and several hundred Tigres fans flooded in around the two Whitecaps fans.
“People had said it would be intimidating, but compared to some of the away games we’ve seen in England it was not bad at all,” McFee said.
“That being said the Whitecaps didn’t score a goal so maybe it would have been different if they had.”
The Whitecaps kept the game scoreless in the first half, but the Tigres scored twice in the second to win the game.