Mexico fans quench their thirst at Avaya Stadium
While most of Silicon Valley was crawling along crowded freeways to work, more than 3,500 people started their morning at Avaya Stadium to watch Mexico and Sweden play a decisive World Cup match. The crowd — almost exclusively fans of Mexico — went from festive to disappointed to resigned and jubilant all in two hours.
They went through more emotions — not to mention more beer — before 9 a.m. than most people do all day.
Manuel Valencia was among the crowds that swarmed at Avaya’s TLC 4K bar — known as the largest outdoor bar in North America — to buy
a 24-ounce can of Modelo Chelada, a combination of beer, tomato, salt and lime. “It’s 7 in the morning, but who cares?” said Valencia, 33, who came to cheer on El Tri on his day off with two co-workers, Veronica Topete and Oscar Puente.
The San Jose Earthquakes opened Avaya Stadium for viewing parties for every game since the World Cup started June 14. Because the games are being played in Russia, that’s meant some have started as early as 3 a.m. in San Jose, but fans still showed up hours before dawn to watch. However, especially with the United States not in the tournament, Mexico’s games have been an entirely different affair.
When they play, the grassy area in front of the stadium’s giant video board turns into a sea of green, red and white. There are giant sombreros, luchador wrestling masks and more than a few guys wearing the Mexican flag as a cape. One group brought drums and started a “Mexico” chant as the first half was winding down. And this was a relatively small crowd compared to the one Saturday that was so big that it spilled into the regular Avaya stands.
On Wednesday, most people brought lawn chairs or blankets to sit on, and the rest stood around the back or at the bar, where they could watch on smaller screens.
And it really was an all ages event with lots of kids, from toddlers in strollers to teenagers intently watching their first World Cup games.
Lalo’s Tacos and Takoz Mod Mex food trucks sold breakfast burritos to the crowd, and the concession stand was open selling quiche, of all things. But the big draw was the bar, which opened right when people started streaming into the stadium at 6 a.m. It’s been that way for all the viewing parties.
“People order different things, depending on which teams are playing,” said bartender Kitty Rosales, who left her home in Newark at 4 a.m. to get to Avaya by 5. “When Mexico plays, it’s a lot of micheladas.”
Indeed, lots of patrons are taking Manuel Valencia’s approach and ignoring the early hour. Many micheladas — similar to a chelada but served over ice with chili powder on the rim — were being served, along with big cans of Modelo and Pacifico. A few other cocktails were getting mixed, too, as well as Patron tequila. But despite the “hooligan” reputation of some soccer fans, it was far from a rowdy bar crowd.
“Today, there are a lot of families here,” Rosales said. “And I like to see that because it brings the culture together.”
And not just the Mexican culture, either. With his yellow and blue scarf, Andreas Rydin of Menlo Park stood out in the crowd as one of the few people pulling for Sweden, his native country. He conceded that he felt a little outnumbered in the crowd but planned to cheer when his team scored. And when Sweden scored in the 50th minute, he was able to celebrate while the rest of the crowd let out a collective groan.
He came to the game with his friend, Chris Lepe, who was rooting for Mexico. They may have been on different sides for this match, but they had one thing in common. “We both want Germany to lose,” Lepe said, knowing that a German victory would knock out the Mexico-Sweden loser. And they both got their wish.
As Sweden took a 3-0 lead on the way to its victory, the crowd started paying attention to the final minutes of the thenscoreless match between Germany and South Korea, which was showing on smaller monitors above the bar. At one point, the decidedly proMexico crowd started chanting “Korea! Korea!” and by the 88th minute, Avaya Stadium had switched the big screen to the more decisive match.
The biggest cheers of the morning came when South Korea scored a goal during stoppage time and when the game ended with the German team ousted, fans of Mexico — and Sweden — celebrated the teams’ advance to the Round of 16.
The next game for Mexico is Monday morning at 7 a.m. And you can bet the bar at Avaya Stadium will be open.