Fans Are Kept From Reaching Their Goal : Soccer: Mexico’s loss in the World Cup’s opening round leaves bar patrons little to celebrate.
It was not a lack of talent, nor passion, nor pride that caused his beloved Mexican futbol team to fall Sunday, said Efrain Ruiz.
“They were unlucky,” said Ruiz, 26, a native of Guadalajara, speaking for most of the boisterous crowd watching Mexico battle Norway on television at Las Palmas Bar in Santa Ana. “They had many more chances, but today they were unlucky.”
Mexico’s defeat, 1-0, in the opening round of the World Cup left little cause for celebration at Las Palmas, a neighborhood bar, nightclub and restaurant on 17th Street in southeast Santa Ana, where the Mexican flag flies proudly. All afternoon, no one found reason to jump up and pound on the conga drums sitting silent on the small nightclub stage.
The disappointed group of about 20--much smaller than most Las Palmas futbol crowds because the game was broadcast to home televisions--never got a chance to erupt. Although the green-clad Mexican team clearly dominated the second half, one missed goal after another only frustrated their faithful.
“If Mexico had played the whole game like they did the last five minutes, they would have won,” said Ted Rodriguez of Anaheim, a native Colombian. “They were too sloppy.”
Before the teams took the field in Washington, D.C., to begin the match, bartender Rudy Robledo admitted he was nervous. So much was at stake, he said.
There were 70,000 cheering fans at RFK Stadium, many among them fanatics for Mexico and Norway, or Noruega , in Spanish, and the rest of the world was watching. “I am ready, but I’m a little scared,” a smiling Robledo, 30, said before the game started.
On most days that Mexico plays, Robledo must add “150 or 200 chairs” to the bar and club to seat all the fans. But on Sunday only about two dozen people--all but two of them men--witnessed the tightly contested match.
“You never know here,” Robledo said. “Since this is on regular television, a lot of people enjoy watching from their back yards, you know, with carne asada.”
Like so many bars and clubs around the Southland, Las Palmas has been festively adorned with brightly colored World Cup paraphernalia, thanks to the beer companies in the United States and Mexico. The matches are duly noted on the World Cup game schedule posted on the wall, and, by Sunday afternoon, Ruiz was already looking ahead to Friday night’s match that will pit Mexico against Ireland, or Irlanda , in Orlando, Fla.
“Every team in the World Cup is a good team,” said Ruiz, 26, in halting English. “But if Mexico made it to the Rose Bowl, that would be great.”
Rodriguez, 32, who has witnessed defeats by Colombia and Mexico in the past two days, found solace in the spectacle of soccer, or futbol , being introduced in such a grand fashion to the United States.
“I think this country will pick up on soccer after the World Cup,” said Rodriguez, a representative for a graphics company who still plays the sport every Saturday in Stanton. “It is so much like hockey or basketball, the same kind of game.”
