Mexico lost 3-2 to England in the World Cup on Sunday night, yet thousands of Mexican Americans across Southern California took to the streets as if their team had won.
El Tri was eliminated from the tournament in another heartbreaking incident, but fans set off fireworks, cheered cars and threw themselves into the air from Orange County to the Inland Empire to Ventura County and all points in between, may we win the damn thing.
It was yet another early exit for a team that had never reached the World Cup semi-finals – but didn't want to dwell on defeat, because nobody felt defeated.
“We didn't lose,” said Kevin Cuevas, 29, with tears in his eyes. We were at Chapter One: Modern Place in downtown Santa Ana, minutes after the final whistle. “We have the best culture, the best men, the best women, the best work ethic, the best team – you name it, we have it.”
I reminded the citizen of Corona about the last points.
“Yes, but we're going up,” replied Cuevas, holding a Mexican flag emblazoned with St. Jude Thaddeus, patron saint of lost things. “We always go up, we never go down. There is no other way to live.”
It's one of the best aspects of Mexican culture – that our parties always end in tears and worse.
“There is nothing so joyful as the Mexican fiesta, but nothing so sad,” Nobel laureate Octavio Paz wrote infamously in “The Labyrinth of Solitude,” his 1950 book about the Mexican state. “Fiesta night and mourning night.”
Paz was criticizing Mexicans for not knowing how to handle pain properly and pretending everything is fine or not – especially if not. But as I leave the first Chapter to explore desmadre outside and scrolled through social media to see what was happening elsewhere, I felt a vibe I had never felt among Mexican Americans.
For so long we have been told by the American public to be ashamed of who we are, yet no one felt ashamed. People who are always used to going backwards would no longer think like that. Our leaders and elders have long urged us to practice resilience and think Manna when things don't go the way we want them to. Because of this exciting world cup, which ended up in vain, we can and will push for another one, and then we can't fix it.
“We did everything we could, and we did everything we could,” said Zeus Palacios, a 27-year-old immigrant from the Mexican state of Hidalgo. We were at Fourth and Bush streets, where people waved Mexican flags over traffic lights, danced to a conga line and set off fireworks for hours after a football game, as police watched. “You have to! Seguimos, seguimos.”
Mexicans continue to move forward.
Corona resident Kevin Cuevas, 29, screams as he watches the World Cup game between Mexico and England at Chapter One: The Modern Local on Sunday in Santa Ana.
(Ronaldo Bolaños/Los Angeles Times)
Even though the World Cup viewing parties came from all over Southern California, I spent the tournament in the city of Santa Ana because it arrived in a different way here. No other city has so many nearby restaurants and bars, owned and operated by young Latinos. Even though it proudly represents a district it has long demonized as too dirty, too crime-ridden — in other words, too Latino. Even though I saw the National Guard set up an armed roadblock in the middle of the mall last year during immigration raids, far away from the market and my wife.
Bigger and bigger crowds flocked here as Mexico wrapped up the Cup before facing England, many from outside of Santa Ana.
“It would mean the world” if Mexico wins, 32-year-old Reek Fernandez told me at Chapter One before the games began.
“The way politics is going right now, the Spanish community needs this,” added Orange resident Jonny Munguia, 30.
“I hate soccer for three out of four years, but not that fourth year,” said 22-year-old Jesse Magaña from Riverside. “Because you are focused [your] blood, not a random group.”
I joined them and hundreds of others crowded into Chapter One to try and collectively make El Tri successful.
We stood up and sang the Mexican national anthem and continued to cheer, as Mexico lost 2-0. When Julián Quiñones scored a goal late in the first half, the Chapter One crowd erupted with the loudest noise I've ever heard from a crowd – and I used to cover metal and punk shows.
We kept the faith as we clearly saw: Mexico would not take it away. England's players were tall, fast and experienced. Mexico couldn't convert from close. It was a story that we Mexicans know very well – we have talent, we are not yet at the level of the world's best. But we always put our hearts into it and we never back down. And finally, another loss.
My friends began to call out the names of Mexican heroes – singers Jenni Rivera and Juan Gabriel, Emiliano Zapata, the last Aztec ruler Cuauhtémoc – in the hope of evoking divine intervention, but it was not to be. The Chapter One crowd fell silent as the final whistle blew. The DJ then blasted the melancholy mariachi classics that have become Mexico's unofficial World Cup anthems: “Cielito Lindo” and “El Rey.”
The first urges us to “sing, don't cry.” The latter is as defiant as Frank Sinatra's “My Way,” a lampoon that boasts, “It's not about being first/but knowing how to get there.” As I walked through the city center, I was amazed at how expressive the Gen Z crowds were mexicanidad.
There were blue football jerseys, sure, but the men wore colorful Oaxacan shirts, ponchos and big sombreros. Women had flowers in their hair a la Frida Kahlo, wore cowboy hats or tied their hair with ribbons and lace, which became a symbol of resistance to the ICE raids among young Latinas last summer.
What I saw definitely couldn't have happened last year – or even before. Mexican Americans have long stood up to defend themselves and oppose haters, but there is often anger and resentment that boils over at the worst times. Hints of that pathology appeared across the Southland at other celebrations on Sunday night.
Four people were shot in East Los Angeles. A fan was stabbed in Lynwood. An illegal assembly was called in Pacoima. Why did a lady throw up in the yard of my wife's business because she couldn't handle her BuzzBallz.
Mexico fans danced in a conga line in downtown Santa Ana after England lost to Mexico in the World Cup on Sunday.
(Ronaldo Bolaños/Los Angeles Times)
Those were not planned pendejos. Last night, Mexican Americans said no ms in the painful past. It's like we put together an illegal slogan for the world cup (¿This is us? – what if we win?) and this one for 2018 (“Imaginemos cosas chingonas” — let's think about positive things) to challenge ourselves to think about a better future and live a better today.
And it all happened because of a soccer team, proving once again how sports can bring about positive change like few other things.
“Win or lose, we are very proud of the team and ourselves,” said 53-year-old Norma Medellín (“no connection to narcos”) of Fountain Valley. He and other younger relatives, all decked out in different styles of Mexican soccer jerseys, had just finished a line dance outside a hair salon that had installed an unexpected sound system. “It's unfortunate that things didn't go our way, but there's always 2030.”
Medellín excused himself and crossed the street – there was more fiesta to enjoy.
