WORLD CUP USA ‘94: ROUND OF 16 : All Eyes and Expectations on Mexico : Soccer: Players can’t get away from adoring fans--until they get on the field today for game against Bulgaria at Giants Stadium.
Nothing like a nice swim to cool down after a couple of hours of soccer practice.
For Luis Garcia and Luis Salvador, that was the idea.
The two forwards for the Mexican World Cup team were so hot after a recent workout in stifling northern New Jersey heat, they didn’t even bother to put on bathing suits.
They stripped off their shirts and jumped into the hotel pool in only their uniform shorts.
It was relaxing, all right. Until they came up for air.
Then they looked around and saw faces. More than a dozen, pressed against the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the pool.
Elderly men, young girls, babies hanging from the thick arms of hard labor, all quiet, all staring. Faces of excitement, of hope, of need.
Soon those faces were partially blocked by more faces, of Mexican TV journalists bold enough to run into the pool area with cameras and microphones to record this monumental, uh, dip.
A hotel security guard, accustomed to guarding mere celebrities, was so awed he did not move.
“For gosh sakes,” he exclaimed. “They’re swimming .”
Indeed they are, the entire team, thrashing about in expectations that grow deeper by the day.
When Mexico plays Bulgaria today at 1:30 p.m. PDT in a second-round game at Giants Stadium, the police will be on alert in two countries.
Mexico City officials fear more wild celebrations such as the one that resulted in one confirmed death after Mexico’s recent 1-1 tie with Italy.
Police departments in Los Angeles communities are also on alert in hopes of avoiding the postgame disturbances such as the ones that have plagued Huntington Park.
“Everyone has to realize that lives of people are more important than a game, right?” asked Garcia, one of Mexico’s top offensive threats.
He phrases the obvious as a question because, as the furor has grown around his surprisingly successful team, the answer is appearing more uncertain.
From the moment Mexico won Group E and advanced to the second round for the first time in a World Cup held outside of Mexico, the players have not been able to leave their hotel without an escort clearing a path through the crowds.
A team of seven security guards has been hired for 22 players and coaches. Their practices have been held within an orange wire fence, with fans and media forced to stand several hundred yards behind that fence.
Yet dozens still stand on their toes, in the heat, for a look.
“We understand these feelings, because we understand that we make history,” Garcia said.
Understanding is one thing. Coping is quite another.
When taking the field today against a less talented Bulgarian team, will their main opponent be themselves?
And if they beat Bulgaria as expected--the Bulgarians had never even won a World Cup match until this year--what happens next?
How on earth do they remain on earth in the days before a quarterfinal match against defending champion Germany?
“But we like this,” goalkeeper Jorge Campos said, giggling. “This feeling we get from everybody, it motivates us.”
And unlike in past World Cups, the feeling they get from each other apparently strengthens them.
Miguel Mejia Baron, who gave up his dental practice to become their coach, put together this team as carefully as he would tell his patients to brush.
Instead of relying only on headstrong stars, he favored players with educations. All 22 players have at least finished high school, and several have college degrees, a first for Mexican soccer.
He also encouraged players with families--80% of the team is married. Then he allowed them to bring their families on this World Cup trip, although wives and children stay at a different hotel.
Finally, he forced the players to understand that only team, and not individual, performances count. Witness the benching of forward Hugo Sanchez, Mexico’s best-known soccer player, in favor of Carlos Hermosillo.
Sanchez is known for leaping bicycle kicks, long individual runs and dramatic shots. Hermosillo is best known for his ability to distribute the ball.
The Mexicans lost the only game in this tournament in which they used Sanchez. They are unbeaten in two games with Hermosillo.
“I’ve never been through something like this before, and I’m not taking it well,” Sanchez said Sunday.
But, as Campos explained, “There are no stars on this team. Mexico is the star.”
Even as Campos has become increasingly famous--he can be seen on commercials for Nike and McDonald’s--he has spread that fame around.
He might seem self-indulgent when wearing a baseball cap adorned with the rainbow-colored letters “J. Campos.”
But hang around the Mexican team for a while and you realize all of the players have those caps.
The players are rarely seen without each other. When they were allowed to remain out until midnight after the tie with Italy, most of them were back at the hotel by 10.
The players agree it is this unity that represents their best chance to endure.
“I do not promise a victory,” Baron said of the Bulgaria game today. “But we will play with conviction.”
All agree it is the least they can do.
