Going to Extremes
Posted on October 15, 2012 14:40
This past weekend worked out real well for me, logistics wise. I was in Houston for College Football, and it turned out that Houston was going to be the place where Guyana would host Mexico in their World Cup Qualifying match.
The media demand was so overwhelming, that I was unable to get a press pass for the game to be played at the shiny new BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston. The PR staff, was very accommodating, though, as they made it easy for me to attend the match. Thanks very much.
The media exigency was in stark contrast to the fan support. It would be polite to say that stadium was half full. Very polite. It would also be safe to say that the promoter who promised Guyana a big payout may have oversold it just a bit. It did not help that tickets started at $70. That’s a lot of samolians for a glorified friendly, especially in a town that has gotten used to seeing Mexico play more important games. Savvy Houston Tri fans know a fleecing when they see one, and most stayed away.
The fans that did attend were still quite vocal, and for the first 75 minutes of the match, they were active participants in the most Mexican of practices: hating on successful people, and taking extreme pleasure in tearing them down.
The target on Friday night was Javier Hernández. Chicharito struck the cross-bar with a penalty kick in the 4th minute, then spent the next 75 minutes trying in vane to make up for his insolence. With each miss, the crowd grew more vocal. I sat next to some guys who started trashing him during the warm-ups. Before long, the crowd turned on him. Whistles and boos rained down from the half-filled stands. It’s safe to say it was not his best game for Mexico. But it was certainly not his worst either. I might be in the minority, but I would rather have a striker take chances and miss, than not take chances at all. It’s hard to score that way, or so I am told.
When Hernández bagged the 4th of Mexico’s 5 goals in a span of 8 minutes, the same crowd who had lustfully jeered Chicharito not fifteen minutes before, actually started to serenade the Manchester United striker. A full-throated chant of his name that lasted a good minute.
Mexico has won all 5 of their semi-final round games, have a +11 goal differential (no other team has more than +4), and qualified for the hex after beating Costa Rica on the road back in September. So why is everyone so mad?
Well, that takes us to another long standing tradition of the Mexican fan: their sports heroes are either sublime… or crap. There is no in between – it is very black and white. There is never any context, and every game Mexico plays is in a vacuum. We saw this bi-polar phenomenon in the lead-up to the Olympics, the tournament itself, and the immediate thereafter.
Mexico tied their first prep match at León, then proceeded to lose matches vs Spain and then Japan. Mexico would be lucky to escape the group was what the conventional wisdom said. And then when Mexico could not get past Korea, well, why even bother playing the games? We all know what happened after that. Mexico went to Gold, only to return to crap just a few days later when they lost to the US in a friendly at the Azteca.
Back to Houston Friday night. While the Mexican media was quick to pounce on Chicharito, it spared them the ignominy of having to criticize their darling: Antonio Nealson Sinha. It was no coincidence that Mexico’s 5 goals came in after Sinha left the pitch. The 36 year-old Toluca veteran was out of step with the rest of his side, wanting to play in idle while the rest of the squad was looking to jump to 4th. The media, in their bloodlust to trash Chicharito, also seemed to ignore the play of one Jorge “Chatón” Enríquez. The Chivas holding midfielder seems destined to not only captain Mexico, but also man the Mexican midfield for a dozen or so years, just like the man he replaced Friday night, Gerardo Torrado.
Did Mexico play it’s best game? Hardly. But it was not their worst game either. Given the context of the game, the result was expected, as was the method by which it came. By why would I ever use context to analyze a result?
half of the time my section grew impatient and each sub that did not take out sinha.
Sinha is worthless. i fail to understand to see what the media sees in him.
The Jagou theory at play.
Really felt bad for Guyana. Not saying Mexico didn’t deserve the win, but Guyana played their asses off for 77 minutes, and then just collapsed. Wish the final scoreline could have been more indicative of the effort they put in to keep mighty Mexico off the scoresheet so long.
Typical El Tri fans,wishy wash just like their cousins aka the Dallas Cowboy fans.
Javier Hernandez did a great job during that game and Guyana really tried but they were not good enough to beat Mexico.
the only thing worse than vacillating or fickle fans and media is writing an article about it.
JJ, you of all people know the Ya Merito history is at work here. Only perennial losers like Ireland types cheer in defeat. Perennial winners have the same demands, see Brasil, Argentina, etc…
Mexico wants a winner and it deserves one. Only recently with the youth has this been realized. Even the FMF recently has publicly said enough is enough, the time has come. No more excuses.
YA MERITO is history! The FMF, Youth Teams, and Fans have realized this; Now it’s time for the senior players to respond. The next 2 summers offers no better opportunity.
“Only perennial losers like Ireland types cheer in defeat.”
Man, that was uncalled for. An inconvenient truth – until Mexico wins a trophy on the senior level, their fans ARE Ireland types, made worse with delusions of grandeur. Ireland is a nation of 6.4 million, competing in UEFA. If Mexico were competing against the likes of CONMEBOL instead of CONCACAF, the Tri’s world cup experience might at best be on on par with, say, Peru…or Ireland…and indeed that may be flattery.
“Mexico wants a winner and it deserves one.”
Anybody with designs on greatness knows that you deserve it because you’ve won it…how much you want it only informs the effort. The former is otherwise irrelevant to the latter.
“YA MERITO is history! The FMF, Youth Teams, and Fans have realized this; Now it’s time for the senior players to respond. The next 2 summers offers no better opportunity.”
Couldn’t agree more that Mexico have their best chance in history. They have build a tremendous record through their youth sides, could well dominate CONCACAF for the next decade (the USA is the only one in CONCACAF that has a prayer of keeping pace…and that’s only in theory), and could make a very deep run in 2014.
If it should happen, I’ll enjoy it and applaud Mexico for their achievement, as I did for their well-deserved youth team exploits. Indeed, “it” (in my book, your mileage may vary) would be a semi-final or final appearance in Brazil, far and away the Tri’s best shot at glory. Nothing against Mexico, that’s simply in recognition of just how freaking hard it is to win the World Cup, no matter how much you may “want it”…just ask Netherlands, or or the Czechs, or even Spain (before 2010).
well to be honest, at the world cup level i think most of el tri fans will take a 5th game at this point. then whatever happens, happens.
ถ้ามันจะเกิดขึ้นฉันจะสนุกกับมันและปรบมือให้เม็กซิโกสำหรับความสำเร็จของพวกเขาเป็นที่ฉันได้สำหรับที่สมควรจะได้ทีมเยาวชนของพวกเขาหาประโยชน์ แท้จริงแล้ว “มัน” (ในหนังสือของฉันระยะของคุณอาจแตกต่างกันไป) จะปรากฏกึ่งหรือสุดท้ายในบราซิลไกลออกไปของ Tri ยิงดีรุ่งโรจน์ ไม่มีอะไรกับเม็กซิโกที่มีเพียงในการรับรู้เพียงวิธีเลวมันยากที่จะชนะฟุตบอลโลกไม่ว่าเท่าไหร่ที่คุณอาจจะ “ต้องการ” ไม่ … เพียงแค่ขอเนเธอร์แลนด์หรือหรือเช็กหรือแม้กระทั่งสเปน (ก่อนปี 2010)
I agree so much.
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