Fans Drop Everything to Cheer Mexico
To many American sports fans, the World Cup ended on the Fourth of July, when the Brazilians dispatched an upstart USA team with a short-handed goal.
But to the soccer-crazed multitudes of Ventura County’s Latino population, the World Cup climax came Tuesday, when Mexico met Bulgaria. To them, that was the momentous clash of nations.
Americans, who may still think Brazilian defender Leonardo is a Teen-Age Mutant Ninja Turtle, cannot be expected to understand.
“They’ve never seen the Mexican team play,” Oxnard resident Roberto Ruiz, 65, said of Americans’ apathy toward soccer. “If they had, they would understand the greatness of the game.”
Alas, for the Mexican team, greatness was absent Tuesday: Bulgaria won. But the effort, fans were quick to emphasize, was valiant.
“We had faith in them, and they didn’t let us down,” said Ruiz’s daughter, Maria. “They played hard.”
In La Colonia, the largest Mexican community in a county that is more than 25% Latino, Eduardo Valencia and his brother Juan took the day off from their body shop jobs to watch the game at the La Michoacana bar.
“We’re aficionados,” said Eduardo Valencia before the game. “(Mexico’s) got the best players, and they try the hardest of any team.”
He admitted, however, he was a fan of Argentina but was rooting for Mexico since his team had been knocked out of the Cup.
Both brothers yelled, jumped out of their seats and swigged beers until the final set of penalty kicks that gave Bulgaria the win. Within seconds, they left the bar--finally speechless.
At Yolanda’s restaurant in Oxnard, 13 members of the Castellano family watched Mexico’s fortunes unfold on a big-screen TV.
“It’s my heritage,” said family member Tino Mendez, 22. “I played soccer when I was growing up, and it means a lot to me.”
The match apparently had great significance for Frank Amaro, who parked his delivery truck outside the Mexican restaurant and met his two brothers inside to watch the game. All three were waving red, white and green flags and yelling maniacally at every Mexican scoring opportunity.
“I don’t care about the truck right now,” Amaro joked. “I just want Mexico to win. I don’t care for Bulgaria one bit.”
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He admitted he had never met a Bulgarian.
When regulation time expired in a tie, the fervent Mexican fans became restless.
Several at La Michoacana paced the floor. Some could not bear to watch, turning away from the screen, only to turn back when the Spanish-language commentators blared that Mexico was mounting an attack.
But when the overtime period ended with the score still 1-1, the fans felt confident that Mexico, with star goalkeeper Jorge Campos, would prevail in the penalty-kick shootout.
At first, Campos came through with a brilliant save. But Mexico failed to score, and Campos eventually faltered. In Oxnard, some fans were disgusted. Others were more accepting.
“That’s the way the game goes sometimes,” Ruiz said philosophically. “It’s a beautiful game, regardless. I hope I’m around for a few more.”
