đ˛đ˝ Hope and fear in Mexican soccer
PLUS: The newsletter I had planned with thoughts on Cruz Azul, Chivas, the CCU with Dick out in Curacao & more!
This wasnât the newsletter you were supposed to get.
I had already started writing about Charly Rodriguezâs goal for Cruz Azul that put the first loss of the season on Chivas.
I was waiting to see what would happen in the Sunday night tilt between Queretaro and Juarez, and planning to include highlights of the ClĂĄsico Femenil between Chivasâ and Club AmĂŠricaâs womenâs sides.
Neither of those matches happened.
Mexican authorities killed CĂĄrtel Jalisco Nueva GeneraciĂłn leader Nemesio âEl Menchoâ Oseguera Cervantes in a Sunday morning operation, leading the CJNG to lash out with a show of force in their home state and all over the country.
They set up narcobloqueos by burning cars and buses, they torched pharmacies, convenience stores, big-box shops and banks. Alerts went out in Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta, quickly spreading to other cities in central Mexico and even reaching the north and south of the country.
In The Guardian, I gave context to the violence, provided some history and wrote about the very real influence the looming World Cup in Mexico has had on decisions leaders in Mexico (and the U.S.) are making about how to attack the cartels.
The big-picture is important, but what kept me up last night are the millions of small pictures. Each person who had to shelter in place instead of ride their bike with their family, read a book at a coffee shop, go to the ClĂĄsico, meet up with a friend. The anxiety, even knowing things likely will be OK, of cooping up inside and watching your city burn through a screen - or out your window.
Spreading terror is, of course, one of the things these groups do best.
If you want to know how people in Mexico feel right now, look at this moment in the Necaxa-QuerĂŠtaro Femenil match that went ahead Sunday. In the 47th minute, several women on the field hear a noise. The referee gestures for the players to head to the benches, pausing the match.
Fans rushed to get onto the concourses and find some level of protection, encouraging the coaching staff and those on the field to pick up the pace as they also head for the safety of the stadium building.
The noises apparently were from exotic autos at a car show or meet-up by the stadium. The panic passed. Everyone was safe. The rest of the match went ahead without any issue.
Itâs hard not to look at those images, however, and not think about similar situations of panic at the Guadalajara Airport, stoked by misinformation, or real threats all over Jalisco and throughout Mexico on Sunday.
Itâs hard not to look at the players rushing off the field and not recall the 2011 Santos Laguna incident in which a shooting outside the Estadio Corona led to panic inside the stadium.
This is how much of Mexico has lived for quite some time: You live your life, you enjoy things, but there is that voice at the back of your head. Your body stays tense, ready to react to a flare-up of organized crime violence at any moment.
That tension can only stay for so long. Mexico has been living it since at least 2006. Realistically, it probably has been longer. Will this moment, evoking the 2019 Culiacanazo, be a moment of real change?
As sports daily RĂŠcord put on their front page this morning, there are more good guys than there are bad, despite what criminalsâ propaganda would have you believe.
They say the âfront page was forâ Raul Jimenezâs double, cyclist Isaac Del Toroâs UAE Tour win or Pumasâ domination of Monterrey, only for organized crime to respond âwith brutalityâ to El Menchoâs capture and death. That took away that pride.
âEven so, Mexico is standing and we must heal and get stronger all together.â
What can most Mexicans stuck inside yesterday, worried about whether or not they would be able to get to the corner store for provisions or if that corner store would even be there today, really do about the decisions being made for them?
Their only real recourse is to decide whether they believe they can be part of that healing process, to take pride in Mexico, to demand the good guys who outnumber the bad guys be given the opportunity to run things, to make the calls, to remind the gangsters the streets belong to the people not to masked men running an illicit business, fueled by consumers abroad.
The World Cup was supposed to provide those types of moments of civic pride and immense joy. That, now, seems to be at risk. Itâs not the most important thing, but soccer does matter here. It only can happen safely when the big-picture situation allows for the safety of everyone and ensures the small pictures are ones of peace and hope rather than anxiety and fear.
Hereâs that newsletter you were supposed to get looking at Charly, the usual weekly Liga MX update, Dick Advocaatâs departure from Curacao, a very random Caribbean friendly & a successful, then failed, wedding proposal!
