My Mexican Fiesta
‘Whoever invented football should be worshipped as a God.’ – Hugo Sanchez, Mexican legend as player and coach.
It's the evening of Wednesday 18th June 2014 and an English guy (me) living in Perth, Western Australia, is watching a Second Group stage match at the World Cup in Brazil. This game was Brazil v Mexico and I had no idea the impact it would have on my life.
I went into the game supporting Mexico because of a girl, that I cared a lot about at the time, who had Mexican roots, but if I'm being completely honest I fully expected Brazil to win the game comfortably.
I later came to learn that Mexico had beaten Brazil 6 out of the previous 10 games between the two, including the famous 2012 Olympic Games where Mexico grabbed the Gold Medal. Even so, this game featured the likes of Neymar, Oscar and Hulk which meant that it would definitely be a tough game for El Tri.
I should state that at the time the only Mexican players that I knew about where Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez, Carlos Vela, Rafa Marquez, Gio Dos Santos and his brother Jonathan Dos Santos. All of these players (except Jona and Rafa) had played in the English Premier League and that's how I knew about them.
This game would become one of the most entertaining games of football that I had ever witnessed up until then, especially for a 0-0 draw. It had all the excitement you would expect when an underdog keeps the favourite at bay for 90 odd minutes producing a tense, nerve wracking game that all football lovers know and love.
This game would become one of the most entertaining games of football that I had ever witnessed up until then, especially for a 0-0 draw. It had all the excitement you would expect when an underdog keeps the favourite at bay for 90 odd minutes producing a tense, nerve wracking game that all football lovers know and love.
The player that stood out for me in this game, and I'm sure every Mexican fan will agree, was the man of the match performer, Mexican Goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa. Even he stated that it was "The game of my life" and what a game he had, stopping shot after shot with World Class saves. His performance brought home to me that Mexico had a good squad and talented players that I enjoyed watching.
This game sparked my interest in this Mexican team and I knew I would keep an eye on them for the rest of the Tournament.
This game sparked my interest in this Mexican team and I knew I would keep an eye on them for the rest of the Tournament.
Looking back I am extremely proud that I watched the now infamous 1st knockout stage game that took place on Sunday 30th June between Mexico and The Netherlands. The phrase "No Era Penal" (It was not a Penalty) would gain notoriety with Mexico fans after this game.
Mexico had been winning 1-0 after a comfortable first half but a late comeback in the second half saw The Netherlands win the game in Extra time. The winning goal resulted from a penalty awarded after Arjen Robben seemingly dived after an attempted tackle by Mexico legend Rafa Marquez and this is still a fiery topic for all Mexicans and Mexico fans. Mexico had been waiting 28 years to reach the mythical Quinto Partido (Fifth Game) and it was particularly saddening to see them go out on such a dubious decision. Despite this loss, my interest had been sparked and I was determined to learn more about Mexican Football. Why Mexico out of any other country? I think the simplest answer is that I found Mexico to be a cool Country, with a cool squad of players, who played a cool, attacking style of football.
When I began to really start to try and learn about Mexican football I started off with two options. The first was the Internet and I found YouTube especially helpful which I will explain in a second. The second option was FIFA because videos games such as Football Manager are a real source of information on players and leagues. FIFA helped me learn who the players were, and eventually who were the better players within LigaMX such as Hirving Lozano (when he was still at Pachuca) along with Alfonso Gonzalez, Diego Lainez, Chofis Lopez and more.
A quick shout out to Wiso, Nayib, Cesar, Tom and Jason, Some of them have left now but for the past 4 years these guys have given me a wealth of invaluable knowledge regarding Mexican Football for which I'll be forever grateful.
So it's the mid to end of 2016 and after 2 years, I had come to the decision that I wanted to choose a club in LigaMX to support. Now, I feel its important to note that ever since I was a kid I've only ever supported 1 club, Arsenal, From the English Premier League and up until this moment I hadn't ever really considered supporting any other club.
So why now? Well I think the simplest answer is the saying "If you study something for too long you'll eventually start to care about it". I'm not sure who said that but it definitely applies to this situation. I had spent 2 years learning a great deal about El Tri but also about LigaMX too. I had come to care about the league, its clubs and the day to day news coming from it and I wanted to experience it through the eyes of a fan.
As you can tell, I chose to support Club Deportivo Guadalajara, Better known as Chivas (for its mascot which is a goat). I have to say the main reason why is because they only employ Mexican players which is unique in world football. I do not believe that there is any other club in any other league in the world that employs players purely from the same nationality as that club (Except for Atletico Bilbao in the Spanish La Liga). I felt that as I had started off by supporting Mexico and its players, it seemed natural to extend that on to Chivas, a club that is literally 100% Mexican.
When I started supporting Chivas they had not long bought former Tigres player Alan Pulido, who I had in fact followed from his Olympiakos days right up until his kidnapping and escape.
This story comes to its conclusion with the World cup in Russia 2018 and to Mexico's first group stage game against the World Champions Germany. This game was absolutely massive as Mexico had been beaten a few times in the recent past (Gold cup and friendly) by big margins. It was somewhat of a positive to get the biggest game of the group for Mexico out of the way first.
As we all know the story of what happened in this game, I think instead I'll tell you my own little story about that day. I was on holiday with my family in England and was due to fly to Dubai on the day of the Germany game which meant that I was feeling a little stressed out at possibly missing out on it.
As the game started we were leaving our hotel in Windsor and so I made my dad play the game on the Van's radio. About half way through the first half my parents, brother and sister in law all got out to go shopping, so I stayed in the van and listened to Hirving Lozano score.
After the game I had a celebratory Mexican meal of Nachos and a Beer before catching my flight.
I just want to say a huge thankyou for reading this. I hope you found it inciteful, entertaining and thought provoking. I'll be back with more Mexico related blogs in the future so keep an eye out. Also why not follow my Facebook page in which I provide news, articles, photos and more about Mexican football.
www.facebook.com/ElDanMan86FutbolMexicano
Other notable websites
www.panchovillasarmy.com
Pancho Villa's Army Youtube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp5gliI-chtidBCYmtrNkyg
FutMexNation Youtube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxa8maIgcX2Kzpsgwn74QRg
Wow men, it's a very interesting story. I'm from México city (CDMX) but i have always been a chivas fan.
ReplyDeleteIt's so "chido" (cool) to know there are chivahermanos all around the world!!
Hey man! Thanks so much for reading bro! Really appreciate it. There's a few Mexicans living down under who I've been fortunate to meet!
Delete