Indeed, I do think that shared/common experiences by Latin American immigrants in the US do bond us in a way that happens precisely because of their status as immigrants here, and also because of some similar characteristics in their cultures. I never felt anything remotely close to a "Latin fraternity" when I lived in Brazil. As to Arthur V: I think it's easier to root for opposing clubs in the Libertadores because Brazilians interact w/ opposing fans far less here than they normally would in Brazil, and because in the end, even your team's rivals are after all Brazilian as well.
I root first and foremost for any CONMEBOL country after my own. Then for any CONCACAF. In terms of clubs, I stick to my club. I don't care if it's a club from my country, I won't cheer for them if I don't like them and/or their futbol. For country we all have our NT's. I don't buy into that argument of c'mon it's a club from our country, we gotta support- HELL NO! I support my country with the NT!
I'll gladly answer answer the question. I was delighted! I heard the game live over Internet radio and was cheering and pumping my first when they were relegated. The rivalry that Palmeiras and SPFC fans hold towards Corinthians is not any less intense than what exists between AC Milan and Internazionale, or between Manchester United vs. Liverpool or Arsenal, or between Real Madrid and Barcelona. If Corinthians sinks, SPFC fans rejoice. I personally may wish to see them do well in the Libertadores as they are from my country. But in domestic competition, I want to see them fail every time.
As an avid Dominican futbol (yes, we exist!), this is a very interesting question to which I feel I can offer a unique perspective. I have always wholeheartedly supported all the Latin American teams. It started when I was very little, and watched my first futbol match, the Brazil-Italy final in 1994. Ever since, I just put all my support behind the latinoamericanos... be it Costa Rica, Honduras, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Brasil, Ecuador, Paraguay, etc. Yes, I am sad when any of them lose or get eliminated, and am overjoyed when they win. I live the World Cups through la selecciones latinoamericanas. Having traveled quite a bit, I definitely feel a sense of hermandad with other latinoamericanos, cultural and otherwise. Any time I am part of a larger international group (say, at a conference), it is evident how the we seek each other out (yes, even the Brazilians!) because there's a cultural comfort level that we all share. That being said, I also understand that it's easy for me. My country much prefers baseball... futbol (or balompie, as it is often called here) is about the 5th most popular sport here. We don't really compete with anybody, not even the Central American countries, so I'm not sensitive to rivalries or grudges like, say, an argentinian might be with Brasil. So I can easily cheer on all our teams. I always knew that wasn't true for some latinoamericanos, though by not majority. After their team was eliminated, they wouldn't care who won, or even wished ill upon other latin teams. I never understood why they would do that... until baseball got its own global competition, the World Baseball Classic (which is still very young, starting in 2006). In the 2009 edition, my country got eliminated in the first round on an upset by the Netherlands team (yup). I was inconsolable for a long time after that, but I marched on and watched the tournament. My cheering interest? Cuba, Mexico and (mildly) Venezuela. I cheered them on; wanted them to show that, even though the DR was eliminated, that our brand of baseball was better than the American's or Asian's (hey, sports is the venue for tribalism ). After all, these are the countries that the DR measure up against year after year. But what about Puerto Rico? No way in hell. I tried, HONEST, but the rivalry was too strong, too deeply entrenched for me not to celebrate when they were eliminated by the American team. So yeah. The point is that I love supporting los hermanos at the World Cup, and I always will, but I understand why the local rivalry and grudges can be hard to over come.
welcome to the forum. you love football but live in a country that breathes baseball. i understand your situation because your country has basically no rivals in the area. however if DR wants to mprove and probably be a decent team in a long term you could start by trying to copy the examples of panama, venezuela and the US. so... is DR-PR in baseball like BRA-ARG in football?
I understand the feeling of not rooting for a team from the same country, a few years back I actually rooted for Cerro Portenio in the copa libertadores and it wasn't a fake "yeah I hope they win for paraguay" but that was because I have been in the States most of my life and had a different point of view from when I people that still live there, I was watching a game with one of my friends and he was actually celebrating cerro's defeat like it was his team that beat them and at the time I didn't get it, I though how can you root for a brazilian team, but then I went back to Paraguay and spent some time there and I remembered how much I hate them and now when we watch Cerro's games together we laugh our asses off and celebrate every goal against them jajaj, anyways I guess you have to be back home to understand the rivalry and border line hate that soccer inspires.
It used to be, but Puerto Rico's baseball has stagnated in the last 10 years... Their league has been mismanaged by their owners and less and less Puerto Ricans are playing in the US Major Leagues (MLB, the equivalent to the top 3 European Leagues). Meanwhile, Venezuela has gone from strength to strength, and has twice as many players in the MLB as PR. So DR-PR is the Clasico Caribeño by tradition, but DR-Venezuela is effectively the Latin baseball rivalry... without the real history *yet* that we have with PR. You could say Puerto Rico is like Uruguay in the early 20th century... eventually limited by their small size and passed by their bigger neighbors, Brazil and Argentina. International baseball is still young though. (Btw, Cuba is the big mystery in the middle of this. They produce talent but they can't export it due to their unique political situation. So while they could be a power, they haven't really been tested themselves against the best talent in the world.) As for the development of our futbol, well that is a long discussion not meant for this topic, jaja. It basically seems that the route it is taking is to get young athletes looking at futbol as a viable way to improve their life. The Dominican diaspora (numbering in a few millions) are starting to play a role, as the many Dominicans living in Spain, Italy and the rest of Europe are taking up futbol. We'll see what happens... as the 5th largest country (economically) in CONCACAF, you'd think we could field a squad that wouldn't rank in the 180s in the world! But as I said, baseball has a much stronger grip here than in most of the world (DR is the largest exporter of baseball talent in the world, as Brazil is in futbol). So getting athletes to turn down a proven path is difficult.
Delamata, I'm guessing that in DR is just like it was when I lived in Venezuela. Every single media outlet, TV, radio, newspaper talks about baseball. But nobody broadcast the soccer games, even though they could do it for free. I think in Venezuela there was a .... I guess a conspiracy theory against soccer. Because when internet came out, the soccer webpages in Venezuela had a huge boom and coincides with the years of growth in Venezuelan soccer.
well venezuela had at least access to copa libertadores, copa america and other southamerican competition.....
I wouldn't call it "rooting", but I'm generally happy when a south american team does well. Like it or not, we are more alike than we are different. Even Brazil is more latin american than they are Iberian Portuguese. The only exception for me is Chile (although I have a soft spot for Colo Colo). Even if they were the last team on earth, I would still cheer for their alien opponents.
I root for all South American team in the World Cup. Everyone else especially concashit can suck my *&^%!!!
i root for every hispanic country in the world cup except mexico..is not racist or anythin but i hate how they think they are the best so i rather see them out of the world cup as quick as possible... so univision can stfu
The only time I ever really got behind a South American team that wasn't Peru was Brazil in 82. It had to do with their wonderful style of play and their stars (Zico, Socrates, falcao, Toninho Cerezo, Junior, etc..) and I was heartbroken when Italy knocked them out of the Cup. But I was a kid back then and I have never again felt passionate about any other team other than Peru at the national level and Universitario at club level. During the WC I generally want S. American teams to win (maybe I make an exception for Ecuador and Chile because of regional rivalries) specially if they reach the final I definitely choose Brazil and Argentina over the European rival, but it's not like I root for them. I just want them to win, and if they lose it's not the end of the world.
En el balompie internacional, la Republica Dominicana no existe. Signed, A Haiti fan (by parents) Seriously, though, I do hope their football improves over the next couple of years, and I was glad to see Jonathan Fana Farias tearing up the Concachampions last year with W Connection. And on topic, I'll cheer for any Latin team against anyone from Europe and Asia. Against African teams, I wouldn't mind if Mexico and especially Argentina get upset once in a while (since those two are the most likely to resort to uncalled-for trash talk against them. "Bring on the macaques", anyone?); and for Mexico in particular, I hope they never make it past the quarterfinals, because if they do we'll never hear the end of it. Oh yes, and CONCACAF over CONMEBOL, claro. But with those reservations aside, I'm all for seeing Latin teams do well in the World Cup, especially since it's not like anyone else is going to stop Europe from dominating the tournament.
I think it's pretty obvious that most South Americans sort of support or back up each other to some degree here in the US and on Big Soccer as well. Hell, you even see it on WR. Whenever Americans or Europeans start to unfairly criticize a South American team or player, I've noticed other South Americans usually start backing each other up. Even the Brazilians and Argentines stick up for each other at times. Maybe it's unconscious but I've definitely noticed it.
i supported teams from conmebol and concacaf, after all we all speak spanish except brazil and the US.
jajaja, honestly, Haiti and the Dominican Republic are the elephant and the whale, destined to never meet If both of us were passionate over the same sport, it would be one of the most tense and heated rivalries in América
Was one of the best days of my life. In the same competition São paulo won and they were relegated. AMAZING. 12/2/2007 The day that good finally won (and my mother's birthday) The Lance cover the day after the relegation. What a beautiful thing.
Worst day of my life . but it feels good to know that we are poised to win La Copa Libertadores this season and that we are undefeated this far in that comp I hate Sao Paulo as well...feels good to know that we've spanked them in 8 consecutive games now