Crucial Game Against the U.S. Means the World to Mexicans

A sombrero-clad Mexican, praying on his knees in a cartoon in the newspaper La Jornada, sums up the mood here on the eve of Mexico’s do-or-die World Cup soccer match against the United States.

“Little Virgin,” he implores the mother of Jesus. “We’ve already given them California, our water, our petroleum, our economy, our sovereignty. At least don’t let them take Monday’s game!”

As if two neighbors didn’t have enough to quarrel about these days, as if their history were not burdened enough by war, fate has cast los Yanquis onto a field in Chonju, South Korea, to challenge Mexico at its favorite sport and current source of national pride.

To Mexicans, whose newly democratic country is trying to throw off a defeatist mentality and claim a place on the world stage, it’s much more than a game.

Fifteen time zones away, President Vicente Fox has summoned his Cabinet to his official residence to watch the nationally televised contest starting at 1:30 a.m. Mexico City time. Millions of Mexicans plan to stay up tonight, many of them crowding around TV sets in all-night bars and giant outdoor screens in city centers across the nation.

“How about that triumph by our team!” Fox said Saturday, opening his weekly radio address with a cheer for Mexico’s first-place finish in its qualifying group to reach the round of 16. “Now we face the United States. It won’t be easy, but I’m sure our players will give their best.... Our hearts and applause will be with them.”

Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow ordered the U.S. Embassy closed Monday--not so that its 500-plus employees can sleep off the game, but so they can avoid the expected all-day post-match riot at the nearby independence monument, a traditional gathering point for fans.

“I hope it’s a just friendly game where the players swap jerseys afterward,” said one American diplomat. “But it’s hard for Mexicans to remove this match from their complex relationship with the United States.”

That relationship is overshadowed by 19th century wars that cost Mexico half its territory and by the United States’ superior economic and military might. After nearly a century of resisting U.S. “imperialism,” Mexico now embraces a North American free trade zone but is locked in prickly disputes with its neighbor over immigration and scarce water along the border.

Friday in the bone-dry border state of Coahuila, a Mexican television reporter suggested that Fox bet the country’s 480-billion-gallon water debt to drought-stricken Texas farms on the outcome of Monday’s match.

“Let’s keep the water issue to water,” the president replied.

Despite a back-slapping friendship between Fox and President Bush, Mexicans complain that their own priorities--including a proposal to legalize more than 3 million undocumented Mexicans in the United States and expand the guest worker program--get less than Washington’s full attention.

The same goes for soccer. If anything irritates Mexicans about going mano a mano with the U.S. team, it’s that the vast American public could not care less about a sporting event that rivals the Olympics in worldwide popularity.

“I was in New York last week when the U.S. team beat Portugal, and when I congratulated my American friends, they thought I was talking about Martians,” said Jorge Montano, a former Mexican ambassador to the United States. “They asked, ‘Did you see the Lakers?’

“To Americans, immigration is our problem. Soccer is our problem,” Montano said. “This is American unilateralism.”

Still, Mexicans queried in TV surveys last week, before the round of 16 shaped up, said the United States was the team they were most eager to face. Soccer is one area in which Mexico has long felt superior to the United States; 92% predict Mexico will win Monday.

“The gringos will lose because they don’t know how to play,” said Harlan Reyes, a 14-year-old student at Public School 260 here. “They’re good at baseball and basketball, but soccer is our sport.”

At the same time, Mexicans recognize that a loss to the United States would be far more painful than a loss to any other team.

“If we lose I’m going to migrate to the United States as a hooligan,” quipped Harlan’s classmate, Aaron Jimenez.

Mexican sports columnists have warned against overconfidence. Although Mexico has won 28 of 46 matches against the United States over the years, the Americans have won four of the last five.

Neither team has won the World Cup, so a lot is at stake just on the field.

A new generation of American players is struggling to match the prowess of Latin America. And Mexico’s young team is on a roaring comeback under Coach Javier Aguirre after a humiliating record under his predecessor nearly kept the country out of the tournament.

In a country plagued by poverty, crime, drug trafficking and periodic financial crashes, Mexicans have seized on the team as a model for managing their affairs. Fox, a rancher who sports Mexico’s green jersey during matches, has compared the squad’s performance to that of his own political team.

“Soccer cannot really give such lessons on how to run the country, but it can help revive our spirit,” said Mexican novelist Carlos Monsivais. In a Mexico fearful of being swallowed by globalization, he said, soccer success has reaffirmed the national identity.

“The contest is not against the United States,” he said, “but against our traditional self-image--the image of a defeated country.”

As Mexico defeated Croatia and Ecuador, then won its opening-round group by tying three-time champion Italy, fiesta-style celebrations have increasingly disrupted life across the country.

Hundreds have been arrested for throwing fireworks and vandalizing stores. Dozens have been injured. Airlines have delayed takeoffs so passengers and crews could watch Mexico play. Absenteeism in schools and workplaces is high.

Agents of globalization have tried to accommodate national pride. Bill Smith, vice president and general manager of Anful, a U.S.-owned maker of fire extinguishers and hoses, has set up a TV set in his Mexico City factory’s lunchroom and allowed workers to leave the assembly line to watch. They’re supposed to make up the time later in the shift, he said, but production has dropped.

“Personally, I’d like to see Mexico win, because it would give them something in their life to be positive about,” said Smith, an American. “But as a manager, I’m looking forward to when Mexico gets beat so we can get back to normal.”

Josefa Mena, a Mexico City psychologist who knows little about soccer “except that the guys are cute and score goals,” ventures the theory that World Cup fever is highest in underdeveloped countries such as Mexico because it offers the illusion that they can beat up on the rich.

“If we win, Mexicans will be going bananas and yelling all over the place, like, ‘Oh, my God, we have reconquered Texas and New Mexico and California!’ ” Mena said. “It’s a vicarious way of achieving an illusion.

“If we lose, then once again, we’re the losers,” she said. “But it will be worse if we win. There will be a party for days and days. It could get very wild. We won’t be able to go out on the streets.”