Fusion
By Elliott Turner
October 5, 2015
Surprise,
surprise. Another soccer game between the United States and Mexico is
on the horizon. On October 10, the two teams will contest a one-game
playoff for the right
to represent CONCACAF in the always super competitive Confederations
Cup, the tournament, hosted by the next World Cup host nation (Russia),
that pits regional champions against one another. But do we really need
another U.S.-Mexico game? With so many Gold
Cups, what is the need for this brand new “CONCACAF Cup”?
The short answer is money. The long answer is: it’s complicated.
We
have more Gold Cups than we need, and a first edition of the CONCACAF
Cup, because both the U.S. and Mexican federations enjoy this odd thing
called “money.” When games
happen in the U.S., they charge dollars for tickets. When Mexico plays
in the U.S., before adoring Mexican and Mexican-American fans, stadiums
get packed and tickets get purchased. Hence the frequency of Gold Cups
and Mexico friendlies in the U.S.
More
fascinating than the simple economic motive, though, is the cultural
impact. In many ways, the U.S.-Mexico rivalry mirrors tensions over the
influx of Hispanic immigrants
(Mexicans included) in the U.S. and the mini-backlash. A Fox News
anchor might say that our stadiums have become “flash points” in a
“culture war.” But history suggests that the tensions in the rivalry are
not just normal, they also parallel what is happening
in society at large.
Bring your huddled masses ... until we get uncomfortable, it seems.
The
United States has always enjoyed a bipolar relationship with
immigrants. On the Statute of Liberty, a plaque states “Give me your
tired, your poor, your huddled masses
yearning to breathe free,” yet “Irish Need Not Apply” signs dotted
store windows in New York City during the 1900s. The Constitution
guarantees the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,”
yet founding father Benjamin Franklin detested German
immigrants and their “pernicious influence” on America. A Republican
president granted amnesty in the 1980s, then in the 1990s a Democratic
one passed a new law with harsh punishments for immigrants.
Just
as the U.S. has both embraced and pushed away Hispanic immigrants, the
U.S. men’s national team enjoys a hot and cold relationship with Mexico.
In a sense, the U.S.
needs Mexico to be the region’s other respectable soccer power.
Mexico’s perpetual presence at the World Cup, along with its typical
Round-of-16 showing (exit), assuages fears that CONCACAF is in the
Oceania rung of confederations when we speak of soccer prowess.
When Graham Zusi scored against Panama in the 2013 World Cup
qualifiers, he didn’t just win a game that gave Mexico a chance to
qualify for the 2014 World Cup; he salvaged the CONCACAF brand.
Still,
with need can come resentment. After the 2011 Gold Cup final, U.S. fans
complained about the conduct of Mexican fans at the Rose Bowl. Tim
Howard ranted on Twitter
about how the post-game ceremony was done in Spanish, calling it a
“fucking disgrace.” Howard’s comments bring to mind Ben Franklin’s
prejudices from yesteryear and a Trump campaign slogan. However, perhaps
there should be some empathy for American fans’ tender
sensibilities. American fans are spoiled by the safety of their
stadiums. It’s an environment that allows you and your sorority sisters
to attend a beisbol game and take selfies to your hearts’ content
without being harassed, shoved, or heckled. Just meme’d.
Yet,
if you speak to fans who have attended soccer games in Mexico,
Argentina, or even Italy, the conduct of the Mexican fans doesn’t sound
so felonious. And here’s the
odd part: how many U.S. sports writers have written glowingly about a
trip to Mexico City’s legendary Estadio Azteca, precisely due to the
feeling of risk and danger? Is the so-called “Insanity of the Estadio
Azteca” exactly what makes it so enjoyable?
Of
course, there’s both bias confirmation and prejudice at work in
U.S.-Mexico relations. If you assume, like Donald Trump, that Mexicans
are criminals and go to the Rose
Bowl with that mindset, you will see a handful of pricks who may be
Mexican and reaffirm your prejudiced conclusions. You may find yourself
focusing on the perpetrator instead of the stadium security personnel
for failing to intervene quickly and appropriately,
or the stadium for packing in fans like sardines in a can, or CONCACAF
for choosing the venue. You might find yourself resolving to watch the
game from home next time, or begging for the next contest to be played
in Columbus on the assumption that “Americanness”
will protect us, when in reality a newer and better designed stadium
only ensures security, not necessarily the presence of any particular
nationality or race.
The
U.S. men's national team takes on Mexico in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup
final at the Rose Bowl in Pasedena, California — one of Mexico's many
home fields in the United
States.
Sadly,
other elements of the immigration debate raging in U.S. politics are
rather easy to spot in the U.S.-Mexico soccer rivalry. CONCACAF and U.S.
Soccer want the Rose
Bowl packed with enthusiastic Hispanic fans. They dream of perpetual
U.S.-Mexico Gold Cup finals and CONCACAF Cups and see dollar signs. Yet
U.S. fans worry that the game “may not be safe.” When a Mexican-looking
fan is a dick at a game, Mexicans writ large
are to blame and we must relocate to Columbus, Ohio, ASAP. When an
immigrant commits a crime, all immigrants look like criminals and we
need a huge wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Yet the inverse can never
be true: if an American fan is a dick, we blame
that one fan as an anomaly. We don’t cry for a stadium location to be
changed closer to the border so rowdy anglos won’t attend. When an
American commits a crime, that one dude or dudette is guilty. Nobody for
a second assumes all Americans = criminals.
Just
like in the economy, the flow of capital has eliminated the border and
forced Mexicans and Americans into close contact both on and off the
field. Yet the flawed
structure of capitalism and corporations tricks people into hating the
other human side of the equation, not the decision-makers. We detest the
Mexican in Matamoros for “stealing” our manufacturing job, not the CEO
who made that happen. Instead of seeing a
handful of rowdy sports fans, we project “Mexican” and Mexicanness”
onto assholes at the crowded Rose Bowl. But here’s the truth: most fans
of the U.S. and Mexico are open-minded, passionate, and kind people,
just as most immigrants don’t come to the U.S.
with nefarious criminal intent.
Thus,
this weekend’s CONCACAF Cup will be an event both in terms of sports
and sociology. As the U.S. and Mexico grow closer to one another as
neighbors and soccer rivals,
expect some flare-ups and disarray. After all, don’t we complain most
frequently about the ones we know and love? Aren’t we the best ones to
see and judge their defects? Most importantly, aren’t we also able to
see past the little things and get a sense of
the big picture?
Hopefully.
U.S.
Soccer needs Mexico, even if the rivalry games would be more special if
they happened less often. And as much as anyone wants to pretend
otherwise, the U.S. needs
Mexicans just as badly. That’s the reality. The sooner we all realize
that, the sooner we can get back to the things that matter, like Mexico
figuring out a way to avoid another round of Dos a Cero tweets.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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