Mexico vs. Netherlands Soccer Game

Mexico versus Netherlands soccer game on November 12
After the the 2014 World Cup match of Mexico versus Holland in June, there was a lot of controversy about the penalty that was called out two minutes over time that resulted in a goal and the victory of Holland. On Wednesday November 12, I attended the friendly game awaited by all fans. According to MLS Soccer,

“The occasion provides head coach Miguel “Piojo” Herrera and his men with an opportunity to avenge the Netherlands’ controversial 2-1 World Cup triumph in June, a result which lives in infamy among Mexican fans thanks to the injury-time penalty kick earned by Dutch winger Arjen Robben to set up Klaas-Jan Huntelaar’s late winner.” [1]

On my way to the match, I was really excited and I was ready for Mexico’s victory. As I found out when I attended the Kazakhstan versus Holland game, the Dutch are very passionate about futbol, and I was excited to see the game, the fans, and experience a well-played game between the country I was born in and the country in which I am living now. During the game, I was very aware of the fact that I was surrounded by Dutch fans and that my behavior was clearly noted as the “Other.” Or at least that’s how it felt. Even my roommate was with me but it was clear that I was extremely passionate about the match and I was not afraid to speak up and express myself; I was kind of crazy excited.

I will not explain the game in full detail but it was a very well-played game [2], Mexico taking the victory three to two.These were some of the things I observed which caught my attention.

During the game, I started to sing Cielito lindo, which is a traditional Mexican song that reiterates the idea that one should sing and not cry (I know, I know), because, get this!, singing makes the heart happy. A lot of the Mexican fans were singing along as well but I was pretty loud. A man next to me, whose appearance I had not noticed, asked me if I liked Mexico sarcastically, since he had just sat through my very passionate cheerleading rants. I said I was from Mexico and he asked me if I spoke Mexican. I told him I speak Spanish because when Spain colonized Mexico, Spanish became the national language. A couple of times after that, he asked me why I don’t just start singing the song again. I said I would when I chose to do it. The way he spoke to me and requested I sing towards the end of the match made me feel really uncomfortable but I simply ignored his request. He could have just said, could you please sing, and it would have been a very different situation. I was also surrounded by Holland fans so the tension was very present.

During the game, there was one man who, (by the way had somewhat of a Spaniard, not Mexican, Spanish lisp), constantly got up from his seat a few rows behind where I was sitting. The man was wearing jeans and a green Mexico jersey, yelling at the players very aggressively in Spanish, and to my judgement, he seemed very drunk. At this point, one of the four young Caucasian women were sitting who were sitting in the row directly behind me said, “That’s so scary…the way they get at the games…I’m like kind of worried.” This really pissed me off because the Holland fans were just as crazy when cheering on for their team, and one abrasive man in the middle of a crowd of orange served as justification for the woman to assume all the Mexican fans are aggressive and scary [mind you, I was one of these Mexican fans]. Given the current political circumstances in Mexico, I felt powerless by her assumption.

Las protestas por la desaparición de 43 normalistas en Ayotzinapa llegaron hasta Holanda. Al minuto 43, del partido entre México y Holanda, los gritos de “Justicia, justicia”, llenaron las gradas de la Arena de Ámsterdam.
Como se había anticipado, la protesta global por el caso de los normalistas desaparecidos se hizo presente en territorio holandés, con un pañuelo blanco en manos de los mexicanos que se encontraban en el estadio.

The protests against the disappearance of 43 normalists in Ayotzinapa have arrived in Holland. During the 43rd minute of the match between Mexico and Holland, the shouts for“Justice, justice!” filled the terraces of the Amsterdam Arena.
Like it was anticipated, the global protests for the case of the disappeared normalists made itself present in Dutch territory, with a white handkerchief in the hands of the Mexicans that were in the stadium. [3]

1. Rematch: Mexico announce international friendly vs. Netherlands on Nov. 12 in Amsterdam: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2014/08/13/rematch-mexico-announce-international-friendly-vs-netherlands-nov-12-amsterd
2. Highlights of the game : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVZNrbKEgMg
3. See more at: http://www.record.com.mx/articulo/noticias/2666470/futbol+noticias-del-tri/al-minuto-43-mexicanos-protestaron-por-ayotzinapa-en-holanda#sthash.4CvQr8Lk.dpuf

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