The United States and Mexico go to war… on the pitch

Nothing adds spice to a sporting spectacle quite like narrative. Not that USA versus Mexico needed the extra heat given recent events. On Friday evening these two teams met under the lights in front of a partisan crowd in Columbus, Ohio – a key swing state which turned red on Election day. It was an occasion not without incident. As a football-loving neutral, I was intrigued to see how the 66th chapter in this fierce yet friendly rivalry would play out in light of Donald Trump’s shock victory. And, seeing as how I just happened to be south of the border, I decided to try and get a handle on what this particular match meant to ordinary Mexican folk who have been so grotesquely generalised by the President-elect.

Like millions of Mexicans, Alex Loaeza never misses a game. He tells me that football – as in most places around the world – is a national obsession. Whenever ‘El Tri’ plays, the country stops, friends and families getting together to cheer on their sporting heroes. Alex seems fairly ambivalent about Trump, but acknowledges that he “doesn’t like us”, flashing a wry smile when asked for his thoughts on the planned wall. Another local, Miguel Cortes, who joins me for a cerveza at the bar he recommended to me earlier in the day, insists that, even now, he doesn’t harbour any ill feeling toward the American people, not even a resting sense of indignation. Which stands to reason given that we’re in the tourist trap resort town of San Lucas in Los Cabos, a popular holiday destination for (mostly white, retired) Americans. And besides, in this moment, events on the pitch, not off it, are his immediate concern.

Still, it’s impossible to ignore the symbolic significance of this match, the “added layer” which USA head coach Bob Bradley spoke of before the fact evident to anyone watching what proved to be a feisty, passionate encounter. The decibel level in the bar (called, somewhat prophetically, Happy Ending) attested to this when Mexico’s veteran captain, Rafael Marquez, headed the winning goal from a corner in the last minute. Sport has a funny way of bringing people together, of breaking down sociocultural and linguistic barriers. It can be a great leveller. It can also breed nationalism and foster resentment. Regrettably this is especially true of football – and yet this gripping contest provided the perfect tonic thanks to two fully committed teams and their respective fans.

In his post-match interview, Marquez called attention to America’s “time of intolerance”, later stating that he hoped the win would help people to “forget now what [has] happened here in the US.” Apparently the hubris and irony of USA’s ‘One Nation. One Team’ slogan, which was spelled out in the stands during the pre-match anthems, was not lost on him. Of course, this result will have no bearing on future US-Mexico relations, but it is a result that matters all the same. One which is unlikely to be forgotten anytime soon, not by the 22 opposing players who, in an almost defiant show of solidarity, came together as a single group beneath the floodlights, and not by those watching on both sides.

Adam Woodward is digital editor at Huck’s sister magazine Little White Lies and a keen observer of the beautiful game.

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