The History of Soccer in Mexico - Research Paper Example

The History of Soccer in Mexico Abstract Close to 3 billion people around the world love and watch soccer game. Almost a century and a half has elapsed since this game was officially born in London in a Tavern, under several clubs’ pens that created the Football Association and laid out the rules of the Game. Within such a short time, soccer progressed and became an international game from a local phenomenon around England. It is important to not that we can trace early versions of soccer back to ancient times. For instance, in the second century BC, the Chinese could play a somewhat blunt kicking game while Mezoamerican cultures practiced a game that was a mixture of basketball and soccer. The Toltecs and Aztecs also played a game that resembled soccer whereby they attempted throwing a ball through a ring attached to a wall. This paper discusses the history of soccer in Mexico. Introduction In the world, soccer is indubitably the dominant team sport that occupies a central cultural position in numerous countries compared to other team sports. In fact, some Latin American countries simply refer to it as pelota, meaning ball as if it is the only ball game in existence. Witzig asserts that one of the oldest ball-fields in America is found at Paso de la Amada in Mexico’s archeological digs1. It is approximately three thousand five hundred years old. The sport of soccer is very popular and has a long history in Mexico. Together with Central Americans, Mexicans created the rubber ball. Games were played on a recessed 40-50 feet long court with the shape of a capital "I". The court had vertical walls that were a number of feet high and at the center of each wall was a wooden ring or a mounted stone. The aim was to project the hard rubber ball through the ring. The first amateur club in Mexico officially started in 1901. By 1919, the Mexican and the National were two leading amateur leagues2. By early 1900s, in the early 20th century, various immigrant groups/settlers from Europe, notably Cornwall’s Cornish miners and later, Spanish exiles who had run away from the Spanish Civil English brought the modern game of soccer to Mexico and during that period, the first soccer club was established in Mexico. In the year 1927, there was the establishment Mexico's professional soccer team/league known as El Tri or the Tricolores, which is still in existence3. Beginning 1910 to 1919, there was a disruption of organized football because of the Mexican Revolution. That not withstanding, by 1922, a new football association had been set up in Mexico City and by the end of the year, there was already a national team from this league’s players for representing Mexico in international friendly matches. In history, Mexican professional league has had three great teams namely Chivas Rayadas de Guadalajara, which during the 1950s and 1960s was the most successful team, Cruz Azul, a Mexico city-based team which was the 1970s preeminent team as well as the 1980s dominant team called America that plays in Mexico city too. In Mexican soccer history, Chivas Rayadas de Guadalajara is the most successful team. To its credit, it has numerous fans in the United States and Mexico as well as ten championships. In nine seasons, America has been the top Mexican team while Cruz Azul has won eight championships. These two teams also have numerous fans. In 2002, the star players of America included strikers Hernandez and Cuauhtémoc Blanco and both are Mexican national team’s members. Other national team’s members are Oscar Perez who is a Cruz Azul’s goalkeeper and Ramon Morales of Chivas Rayadas de Guadalajara among others. Among the United States’ immigrants from Mexico, the professional league of Mexico and its teams as well as the national team of Mexico that represents the country in global football competition have a great following. The Mexican Football Federation Association manages the national team of Mexico. Currently, in the FIFA World rankings, this team is seventeenth4. As part of their training, Mexican teams frequently make preseason tours and play in tournaments in cities in the United States, particularly in California and Texas. With the intention of being identified as Mexico national team’s official sponsor, in the U.S, important corporations pay many dollars. Such corporations include beer companies. Compared to the United States, professional soccer is more popular in Mexico and there has been a steady growth in Mexican league, particularly in the 1990s. In today’s world of soccer, this league has become one of the highest paid as well as the best-supported league. Some of its teams compete with leading teams in South America in the most important South America’s club competition called Copa Libertadores and in other tournaments. Teams in Mexico have exhibited a high competition level. For instance, in 2001, Cruz Azul reached the Copa Libertadores’ finals5. Mexico played their first international friendly match against Guatemala at the beginning of January 1923, beating it 3-26. During the same year, Mexico played its first World Cup and finished last and after this, Mexican soccer experienced such problems as corruption and poor conditions of training7. It was only after four years when the national team was represented in international friendly matches. On June 12, 1927, the team, in preparation for a friendly match against Spain, played a friendly match against their ‘B’ squad and won 4-2. The Mexican squad faced a selection from Spain on June 19, 1927 and they had a draw of 3-3. In this same series, the squad also played against Nacional de Montevideo, the Uruguayan club and lost 1-3. In 1927, Mexico’s official governing body of the sport of soccer called The Mexican Football Federation Association was founded. From its initiation, this federation has been the main organization that has the responsibility of the administration, management, funding, organization and promotion of all football competition within Mexico as well as the Mexican national football team. Club representatives from the first division of the federation all vote on the coaching staff, management and direction of the national football team8. The Summer Olympics of 1928 marked the first international tournament for Mexico. Before the contest, there were two friendly matches between the Mexican squad and Spain and another friendly match with a representative Asturias side. The outcomes of these matches were two draws and one loss. Mexico also faced Spain in the 16th Round at the end of May 1928 at the Olympic tournament and the outcome was the defeat of Mexico by 1-7. Mexico participated in FIFA World Cup in the year 1930, after being grouped together with France, Chile and Argentina. During this time, Mexico played its first match against France at Uruguay’s Estadio Pocitos in Montevideo on July 13. This game witnessed the first World Cup goal for Mexico by Juan Carreno, although it ended in a loss for Mexico by 4–1. In the tournament’s second match, Mexico played at Estadio Gran Parque Central of Montevideo with Chile and lost by 3–0. Its third match, which Ulises Saucedo, the Bolivian coach refereed was against Argentina and it featured the tournament’s first penalty, scored by Manuel Rosas. During the match, five penalties were awarded and three of them were controversial9. The next time when Mexico participated in a World Cup tournament was in the year 1950. Before the year 1970, Mexico made great effort to make much of an impact in the World Cup when contesting against South America as well as European teams. However, Antonio Carbajal, a Mexican goalkeeper has the distinction of being the first player ever to participate in five consecutive FIFA World Cups. Next is Midfielder Salvador Reyes who has the distinction of playing in the tournaments of 1958, 1962 and 1966. Mexico continued making greater investments in soccer and following the rise of a few great clubs, several high-tech stadiums, which could also host the matches of the Mexican national soccer team, were built in Mexico. This made FIFA consider Mexico as qualified to host a World Cup10. One of the most important years in Mexican soccer’s history was 1970, when the country hosted the World Cup and was able to pull off a good organization of the World Cup as well as to reach the quarterfinals in the tournament. Mexico started their campaign with a draw against the Soviet Union. Next, Mexico won over El Salvador by 4–0. The country then progressed to the next round winning against Belgium through a penalty that Gustavo Pena scored in the 14th minute. During the stage of the quarterfinals, despite Mexico taking an early lead, Italy eliminated it in a 4–1 match. Most importantly, the 1970 World Cup produced a popularity boom for soccer all over Mexico and from that moment, soccer has been the most important and prominent sport in Mexico. Mexico did not qualify for the 1974 FIFA World Cup and only appeared at the world stage in Argentina in the year 1978 where after three defeats, it suffered an early exit. Against Poland, it scored 1-3, against Tunisia, it scored 1-3, and against West Germany, it scored 0-6. Mexico also did not qualify for Spain in 198211. After the success of 1970 World Cup, FIFA permitted Mexico to host another World Cup in the year 1986 and Mexico was placed in Group B where they won against Belgium by 2-1, defeated Iraq by 1-0 and went into a draw of 1-1 with Paraguay. During this time, Bora Milutinovic coached the national team. With this feat, Mexico toped in its group and progressed to the next round where it faced Bulgaria and won by 2-0 thereby qualifying for the quarterfinals during which stage they lost to West Germany. During this time, Mexican soccer culture was already well defined and established12. In Seoul 1988, FIFA disqualified Mexico from participating in the 1990 FIFA World Cup and any other global competition for two years after using players over the allowed age limit in the Olympic Games qualifying round. This punishment was applied to all games’ Mexican national representatives including the World Cup team, although it was originally to be applied to the Olympic team13. After employing Coach Cesar Luis Menotti in the 1990s, Mexican football started experiencing greater success internationally. An important defining moment was their 1993 participation in the Copa America, where they emerged second in the tournament after Argentina, which beat them 2-1 in the final. In the 1994 World Cup, Mexico won its group on tiebreakers and emerged from the contest’s ‘Group of death’ consisting of Ireland, Norway, Italy and Mexico. Nevertheless, in the second round, they finally lost to Bulgaria on penalty kicks. Miguel Mejia Baron led this team into one of its most notable performances in a World Cup14. Since they finished second in the 1993 Copa America, some of Mexico’s teams compete well with leading teams in South America in the most important South America’s club competition called Copa Libertadores and in other tournaments. Teams in Mexico have exhibited a high competition level. For instance, in 2001, Cruz Azul reached the Copa Libertadores’ finals. In the years 1997, 1999 and 2007, Mexico emerged third and in 2001, it finished second. They have never failed to attain Copa America’s quarterfinals and they have had the leading scorer in the contest twice namely Luis Garcia in 1995 who shared the title with Gabriel Batistuta, a striker from Argentina, and Luis Hernandez who was the leading scorer in 199715. After participating at King Fahd's Cup which eventually became the FIFA Confederation's Cup and having Bora Milutinovic as their coach again, coach Manuel Lapuente managed the Mexican team in a wonderful qualifying round for World Cup France 1998 where they emerged first place in the side of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF). During this World Cup, Mexico, Belgium, Holland and Korea Republic were in Group E. Here, Mexico started against Korea Republic and lost 0-1 but later won 3-1. Belgium also at first beat Mexico 2-0 but later; they had a draw of 2-2. In their third game against Netherlands, the teams also had another draw of 2-2 resulting in their qualification to the next round where Mexico faced Germany and lost the game by 2-116. The Mexican national team’s incredible success and growth during the 1990s reached its zenith when Mexico hosted and won the FIFA Confederations Cup of 1999. Mexico beat Brazil with score of 4-3thereby winning its first official tournament trophy of FIFA. Cuauhtemoc Blanco, a top scorer Mexican star, shares the Golden Shoe award of the tournament together with Ronaldinho, a Brazilian player who received the Silver Ball. In the 2002 World Cup, following a tough qualifying campaign, Mexico attained the finals and got a place in Group G together with Ecuador, Croatia and Italy. Their participation opened by defeating Croatia 1-0. In their second contest, they defeated Ecuador by 2-1 with goals from Gerardo Torrado and Jared Borgetti. Mexican national team then attained a draw of 1-1 against Italy credit to a goal from Borgetti that was considered as one of tournament’s best17. In the second round, Mexico played continental rivals United States and the United States defeated by 2-0. Mexico co-hosted the Gold Cup with USA in 2003 and won it after a victory of 1-0 in Mexico City over a Brazilian squad that had defeated the U.S in Miami, Florida. The United States’ and Mexico’s parallel emergence on the international stage has led to the promotion CONCACAF region’s status and has granted a natural rivalry that has profited both national teams’ development. The notable Mexican national team’s growth since the early 1990s was attributed to the increased competitiveness of Primera Division de Mexico, its domestic league. Largely due to profitable television contracts, outside of Europe, football clubs of Mexico are amongst the richest making Mexico many quality international players’ attractive destination, principally from Central and South America. Furthermore, Mexican clubs excelled in international tournaments including Copa Libertadores of CONMEBOL. Actually, a Mexican club has emerged among the top four in four of the previous six editions of the tournament, including the 2001-second place of Cruz Azul. Along with increased international tournaments’ participation, the high-level foreign players’ influx has helped recompense for the fact that relatively few players from Mexico have sought opportunities in other countries traditionally. During their time in Europe, Luis Garcia, Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Hugo Sanchez have all found some success. During the 2006 Germany’s FIFA World Cup, Mexico was among the eight seeded teams, consisting of Italy, Brazil, France, Argentina, Mexico, Germany, Spain and England, in the first round. This was the second time for a non-hosting CONCACAF country to be seeded. Mexico was in Group D together with Portugal, Angola and Iran. In their first match, Mexico defeated Iran by 3–1. While Sinha scored one goal in this match, Omar Bravo scored two. Mexico, in their second match, went into a draw of 0–0 against Angola. Despite losing 2–1to the Portuguese, the Mexican national team joined Portugal as a qualifier in the Round of 16 during which match Bravo missed a penalty. Mexico played against Argentina in the second round, and in the fifth minute, Captain Rafael Marquez assisted by Pavel Pardo scored a goal. However, Hernan Crespo and Maxi Rodriguez scored one goal each for Argentina and Argentina defeated Mexico by 2–1. After the tournament, Ricardo Lavolpe, Argentine coach who had been coaching Mexico, stepped down and Hugo Sanchez, Mexican legend, succeeded him18. Following Mexico’s 2007 loss by 1-2 in the final match of the CONCACAF Gold Cup against the U.S., the Mexican team rebounded successfully with outstanding first-round involvement at CONMEBOL 2007 Copa America. They started by winning against the recent champions Brazil by 2-0, in their second match, they won 2-1 against Ecuador and in their final match; they had a draw of 0-0 with Chile. Consequently, Mexico topped with seven points in Group B. Mexico beat Paraguay 6-0 in the quarterfinals but lost 3-0 to Argentina in the semifinals leaving it to fight against Uruguay for third place and it won 3-1 and received the bronze trophy. In 2009 July, after winning 5–0 against the United States in the final, Mexico won their fifth Gold Cup, and 8th CONCACAF Championship overall. This was after almost ten years of not winning a game in the U.S. The Mexican national team qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup on 10 October 2009 after beating El Salvador 4-1 in Estadio Azteca. Together with Uruguay, France and South Africa, Mexico is in Group A and on June 11, 2010, they will begin their campaign in the opening match at Soccer City against South Africa. The 2010 FIFA World Cup will take place in South Africa. Mexico has participated in World Cup thirteen times and since 1994, it has qualified successively. The country holds three CONCACAF Championships, two NAFC Championships, five CONCACAF Gold Cups, one FIFA Confederations Cup and one North American Nations Cup. Even if Mexico is under CONCACAF’s jurisdiction, the national football team has regularly received the invitation to compete in the CONMEBOL Copa America ever since Ecuador 1993 and on three occasions, has obtained the third place medal and has twice finished as runner-up19. Conclusion It is evident that in Mexico, soccer, which has a long history, is a very dominant team sport and that it occupies a central cultural position in the country compared to other team sports. Ever since soccer became popular, Mexicans have been in its first scene if not with outstanding performances, but with outstanding organization. As aforementioned, Mexico has hosted two World Cups, which many consider amongst the most successful and entertaining in history. It is important to note that the best World Cup performance of Mexico is reaching a quarter final. This is indubitable evidence that Mexican soccer is progressively growing and with great soccer players like Luis Garcia and Rafa Marquez working in the highest level, Mexicans may soon achieve victory making the long wait for success appear closer than before. References Escribar John. 2008. “How Mexico Soccer History Started.” Available from http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Mexico-Soccer-History-Started&id=1296283 Internet; accessed 4 May 2010. Latzko Laura. 2010. “History of Mexican Soccer.” Available from http://www.ehow.com/facts_5347990_history-mexican-soccer.html Internet; accessed 4 May 2010. Stacy Lee. 2002. “Mexico and the United States.” United States: Marshall Cavendish. Library.thinkquest.org. 2010. “Origins of Soccer-U.S. 1600’S.” Available from http://library.thinkquest.org/6314/history.html#Mexico Internet; accessed 4 May 2010. Reference.com. n.d. “Mexico national football team.” Available from http://www.reference.com/browse/Mexico+National+Motto accessed 4 May 2010. Witzig Richard. 2006. “The Global Art of Soccer.” New Orleans, LA: CusiBoy Publishing. Supersport.com. n.d. “Mexico – Profile.” Available from http://www.supersport.com/football/content.aspx?id=19722 Internet; accessed 4 May 2010. “History of Soccer in Mexico.” 2007. Available from http://www.soccer-fans-info.com/history-of-soccer-in-mexico.html Internet; accessed 4 May 2010. Read More