🇲🇽 The Mexico Fan National Team is at it again - & this time they're winning
After agony in Haiti, a thrill in Belize
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Miguel Nieto started his weekend crossing one corner of Mexico and ended it in another. In between, he led a group of Mexico fans, amateurs, on a mission to Belmopan, Belize in search of a victory in a friendly match against the Belize U-20 team.
He and several teammates started in Tijuana, where “la patria empieza” and flew from Southern California to Belize. They crossed back via land, entering at Chetumal, a city on a totally different border that markets itself as Mexico starting point.
They may not have been recognized by their countrymen in any port of entry or anywhere else along the journey, but the mood was triumphant. The Mexico Fan National Team returned from Central America after topping the Belize U-20s, 2-1.
The Mexico Fan National Team (which utilizes the full name: Selección Mexicana Aficionados Apoyo Lealtad Pasión) is what it sounds like: A group of Mexico fans forming an amateur national team, flying the flag of Mexico and often playing similar groups of fans or other amateur sides. But this team is going one step farther, seeking out competition against national teams in the Concacaf region.
You may remember this group from last year’s trip to Port-au-Prince to meet Haiti’s U-23s.
Phillip Marin did.
The Belize techincal director said that with attention more focused on hosting the UNCAF U-19 tournament this weekend, and after seeing the 15-0 beatdown Haiti’s U-23s put on that team last time around, the quality of the Mexican group took him by surprise.
“To be to be honest I saw that game as a recreational game because I did some research about the Mexican team,” he told me this week. “We were not taking the game that seriously. These are players that are out of league, veteran players.”
It’s true, but Nieto has been working over the last year to improve the quality of the squad, with a base of players in Tijuana and others chipping in from elsewhere.
In some ways, that makes them take things more seriously, wanting to show that Mexican football passed them over too soon or, in a few cases, that they still could play in one of the country’s various lower leagues.
Nieto had this match with Belize set before the Haiti game came together, but then the pandemic came, and restrictions in Belize because of Covid-19 made it so this game didn’t end up happening until last weekend.
The team leader is looking to secure more matches against affiliated national teams in the region, regularly speaking to various officials and pitching his team as an option for friendly matches. He’s sure this result will only help him get more games, perhaps even against a senior team in the region.
“We’ve seen we have potential. We have the soccer, while amateur, from Mexico that is really good, that can beat national teams,” Nieto said. “I’ve proved my point. It’s a fact, we can win.
“I never played professional. I played on the street, on the corner, in the park, futbol rapido. My teammates are the same as me. Nobody played in América, Chivas, Cruz Azul, Pumas, first, second division, but…we can play.”
Marin said despite Saturday’s setback, fans should be patient. He says development in Belize is going in the right direction, with the country able compete against Caribbean rivals but struggling against Central American neighbors that have more resources and a longer, richer soccer histories.
“We’re looking for one of our teams to qualify to a World Cup, but before we get into a World Cup, (the goal) is to be in the top five, top three in Central America,” he said. “For Belize, it’s very difficult for us to compete at this level, but we’ve been pushing, doing extra work to develop football in Belize.”
He may never have thought it, but it’s possible the story of Belize’s World Cup dream may involve a group of Mexico fans living out a dream of their own.