San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
The U.S. team is wearing green
Mexican Americans flock to Avaya to cheer El Tri
They came from miles around Saturday to watch the World Cup match between Mexico and South Korea on the big screen at Avaya Stadium, and loyalties were divided.
About half the fans proudly carried the banner for Pacifico, while the other half showed their love for Modelo.
Somehow, maybe because this is America, darn it, those factions united under a common bond: Adoration of the Mexican team, El Tri.
Want a cheap laugh? Find a guy wearing a 2-foot-high sombrero and a full-head lucha libre mask, and ask him if he’s rooting for South Korea.
It was a fantastic party. I don’t know what time last call was Saturday, but first call was somewhere around 6 a.m., when folks started arriving and tailgating in the parking lots at Avaya, home of the Earthquakes and host of the big-screen viewing party. (The stadium is open for every World Cup game.)
But even though the fans started de-thirsting early, and leaned on the cerveza fria to combat the sun that was already blazing when the match started at 8 a.m., the crowd was super mellow.
I covered the World Cup in Germany in 2006 and didn’t see a sober
person for a month, not even in my mirror. But Saturday, love trumped liquor. A woman standing in front of me watching the big screen dropped an F bomb, then turned and apologized.
Mexico’s first game, against World Cup defending champs Germany, drew about 3,000 fans. Mexico upset the Germans 1-0, fervor picked up, and Saturday’s event drew at least 5,000.
When the huge lawn on the far side of the end-zone-long bar became packed well before game time, the Quakes opened up their grandstands and filled a quarter of their lovely stadium.
The Mexican team not only has the wholehearted support of Mexican Americans in Northern California, but in a larger sense, El Tri has become America’s Team.
The U.S. squad didn’t make the World Cup cut, losing to Trinidad and Tobago. American fans took some consolation in the fact that it took two countries ganging up to eliminate our boys. And there is now a strong U.S. sentiment for slapping an embargo on Tobago Sauce.
Now American soccer fans, as their way of joining the party to which they were not invited, have adopted the Mexican team. Maybe there’s some political stuff involved, too, what with a lot of public sympathy being directed lately toward our neighbor to the south.
If politics and sports mixed Saturday, though, they did so only lightly. Near halftime I tried to make my way from one side of the lawn to the other, but there was no path through the crowd, so I picked my way awkwardly through some waist-high shrubs.
A Latino dude watched me, laughed and said, “You look like you’re crossing the border, man!”
One thing was clear: The Mexican team, considered maybe the country’s best ever, has raised fans’ hopes
“We love soccer, even the friendlies, but this is a whole different monster. We feel like we’ve got a good shot.”
Alberto, a Mexican soccer fan
through the roof. Which is good, because no roof can hold those sombreros.
One fan named Chuey, a barber from Delano (Kern County), wore a “Beach Blanket Babylon”-worthy sombrero and sported a Mil Mascaras mask, a tribute to the legendary Mexican luchador (wrestler) of the ’60s and ’70s.
“We love soccer, even the friendlies,” said Alberto, Chuey’s sidekick, “but this is a whole different monster. We feel like we’ve got a good shot.”
Brief backstory: Mexico made it out of group play at each of the previous six World Cups, but each time El Tri lost its first knockout game.
Mexico is a lightning-fast team. It’s pass-pass-pass, play with joy. But it has a rep for playing down to its competition, losing focus and being soft. In other words, the team is the soccer version of the 2017-18 Golden State Warriors. So what’s not to love? Another reason to love the Mexican team: They might be grooming the future of American soccer. Mexico’s manager, Juan Carlos Osorio, has worked wonders with the team, but has been trashed by the fans and media, the most critical and fickle in soccer. Osorio, an old-school guy with New Age ideas, is already shopping himself, having expressed interest in coaching the American team, like soon.
Turmoil or no, Mexico was heavily favored against South Korea on Saturday, and among Mexico’s fans that caused widespread fear of a letdown. The crowd at Avaya was quiet and apprehensive most of the first half, but erupted when striker Carlos Vela scored on a smoking lefty penalty kick in the 26th minute.
Still, there was tension in the air until the 67th minute, when rock star Chicharito (Javier Hernandez) zipped home the 50th goal of his international career to make it 2-0.
Mexico, which held off Korea 2-1, still wasn’t out of the woods. El Tri would need a win or tie by Sweden later in the day, against Germany, to ticar su billete (punch their ticket) to the knockout round. That ended up not happening.
But the fans were happy, and they’ll be back.