Bill Simmons is considered to be one of the most influential and popular sportswriters of the 21st century. In his covering sports, he has attended some of the most intense and hostile matchups in American sports history. However, nothing could have prepared him for what he would witness while watching the United States men’s soccer team play Mexico in 2009 at the world-famous Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. While reflecting on his experience, Simmons remarked, “I have only attended two other games in which the crowd’s collective loathing was palpable… and neither approached USA-Mexico. Michael Vick could crash a PETA rally and get a friendlier reception than the Americans did at Azteca.” (Simmons 2009). This rivalry has never just been about soccer. It has functioned as a public stage where political and cultural tensions between the two neighboring countries are expressed. In this way, this rivalry reflects the broader relationship between these two countries. My project seeks to analyze how the United States–Mexico soccer rivalry has become a space where national identity is contested and performed on both sides of the border. Understanding how people in both the United States and Mexico have used this game as a means of expression provides a unique perspective into the political and cultural tensions that have defined these nations’ relationship for centuries.
The historical significance of these questions extends far beyond the soccer pitch. The United States and Mexico have a long, violent history rooted in war and territorial conquest. The Mexican-American War ended after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, which transferred roughly 55% of Mexico’s territory to the United States. (National Archives 2021). This major historical event established a border between the two nations that has become site of controversy ever since. Throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, millions of Mexicans have migrated to the United States, creating communities in American cities with dual cultural loyalties. Soccer, the most popular sport in Mexico, has become one of the most prominent places where these loyalties are represented. Unlike any diplomatic negotiations, soccer matches are watched by tens of thousands in person and by millions on television. The rivalry has become one of the most visible arenas in which tensions between the two neighboring nations play out.
My project argues that this soccer match between Mexico and the United States serves as a recurring space where ordinary citizens can express their political and cultural views. Additionally, I believe that this dynamic has intensified in direct proportion to the broader political temperature. The primary sources assembled for this project document that pattern across three decades and from every angle of the rivalry through the fans, players, media, and the institutions that govern the sport itself. For example, a 2016 Associated Press report by Mitch Stacy shows players from both nations being forced to address the relationship between politics and sport just days after Donald Trump’s election victory, which put immigration at the forefront of American lives. (Stacy 2016). A 2017 Jezebel article demonstrates how Mexican supporters truly believe that these matches mean far more than just athletic competition. (Jezebel 2015). A 2015 TV Azteca promotional video, which takes clips of Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and turns it into a promotional video for the match, reveals that Mexican media outlets use American political hostility as fuel for national pride. (World Soccer Talk 2015). Taken together, these sources reveal that the game between nations has always carried weight. It is a reflection of the broader political and cultural forces that shape relations between countries.
Understanding the history of the sport in the United States helps explain why this rivalry carries so much weight. Andrei Markovits and Steven Hellerman document how soccer was kept from becoming a mainstream American sport, held back by organizational incompetence, anti-immigrant backlash, and its persistent identification as a foreign game. The very officials who were tasked with growing the game in the United States undermined it by proudly associating it with Europe, despite nativism being popular during the time. (Markovits and Hellerman 2001, 101). In 1894, when the first professional soccer league in the United States collapsed after only three weeks, it was partly because immigration authorities investigated the use of British players, thereby tainting the sport’s image. (Markovits and Hellerman 2001, 105-106). This history meant that when Mexican and Mexican-American communities used soccer as a means of community building, they were participating in a sport that had long been excluded from dominant American culture. Soccer became the perfect space to express their unique cultural identity. Soccer did not begin to gain traction in the United States until the 1994 World Cup and the founding of Major League Soccer in the years that followed. Around this time, the rivalry between Mexico and the United States began to heat up.
The soccer rivalry between the United States and Mexico mirrors the broader relationship between the two nations. These two countries have been bound together by geography, history, and conflict for centuries. What started as just a simple game has evolved into one of the most storied and intense rivalries in the world, regardless of sport. The sources collected in this project collectively show that the intensity and meaning of this rivalry cannot be explained by soccer alone. It must be viewed through the lens of immigration, national identity, past conflicts, and contemporary politics, among other things. When Mexican fans cheer for Mexico in an American stadium, when players throw punches and rip jerseys during the heat of an intense matchup, or when a Mexican media outlet turns Donald Trump’s speech into a pro-Mexican advertisement, they are all engaging in something much larger than just a game of soccer. They are participating in a conversation over belonging, power, and identity that has long defined the relationship between these two nations
Sources
Jezebel. “Trump’s Rhetoric Fuels Fire of Heated U.S.-Mexico Soccer Rivalry.” October 8, 2015. https://www.jezebel.com/trumps-rhetoric-fuels-fire-of-heated-u-s-mexico-soccer-1793851643.
Markovits, Andrei S., and Steven L. Hellerman. “Soccer’s Trials and Tribulations: Beginnings, Chaos, ‘Almosts,’ Obscurity, and Colleges.” In Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism, 99–127. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001.
Simmons, Bill. “Sporting Emotions at the Highest Pitch.” ESPN.com, August 17, 2009. https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story/_/page/simmons%2F090817.
Stacy, Mitch. “USA-Mexico Soccer Game Friday Has Added Attention After Donald Trump’s Election Win.” Associated Press, November 11, 2016. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/sports/USA-Mexico-Soccer-Game-Friday-Has-Added-Attention-After-Donald-Trumps-Election-Win-400806611.html.
“Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.” National Archives, February 2, 1848. https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/treaty-of-guadalupe-hidalgo. “
TV Azteca Spins Trump Speech into Amazing USA-Mexico Promo.” World Soccer Talk, September 9, 2015. https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/donald-trump-clip-tv-azteca-confederations-cup-playoff-usa-vs-mexico-promo-20150909-CMS-150766.html.