Canada's coach, Nick Dasovic, was perhaps justified in acting like the possibility of collusion to affect the match outcome was beneath his consideration or response, but I remember plenty of Canadians (including Ante Jazic, who spoke to me about it) were convinced that CONCACAF had screwed them in last year’s Gold Cup. Jazic thought it was a CONCACAF conspiracy to put the U.S. and Mexico in the final.
In fact, a Canadian reporter here was talking to me about that, "Yes, everyone thinks that the Gold Cup semifinals were fixed, so the Federation could have its two marquee teams in the final for better ratings.”
I mentioned that ratings climb when Mexico plays, but the U.S. isn’t much of a difference-maker, as witnessed by the very small U.S. contingent in Soldier Field for the Gold Cup. “Mexico fans are very loyal – if their team was in a final versus anyone else from CONCACAF, they would watch.”
Anyway, the point is, it’s not as if the Canadians (and any nationality who ever has had trouble with a loss) haven’t ever wondered about conspiracies themselves, so any implication that only Mexicans think that way is wrong.
25 comments:
its 1 thing to have 1 circumstance like this but for MEXICO and all there Mexican teams, its ALWAYS A conspiracy. Guatemala was bought,The REf caused our loss in the gold cup final, The Ref passed the Us the ball to make it 2-0, ITS ALWAYS THE SAME. Just because you are mexican does not mean you can cover up for them.
Great little Beckham article from his visit to Dallas. DB reunited with the family he stayed with as a young boy. Hard not to be a fan of the guy.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2008/03/17/daily-mirror-reunites-david-beckham-with-the-alcala-family-89520-20354129/
Anon, what makes you think I'm Mexican?
ac is argentinian, not mexican.
Actually, I'm not Argentine, either. I did live there as a little girl, and I love the culture a lot, but I have no actual family heritage to the country.
Central American?
Partly. Think of the Central American country who cares the least about soccer.
Belize
I guess I should have said, "Think of the Spanish-speaking country in Central America who cares the least about soccer."
Nicaragua
Mexico? They obviously don't care about soccer the way they played on Sunday.
Nicaragua it is. What did we win?
I don't get the first comment in this thread. I don't see how what you wrote defends Mexico in any way, if anything it gives motivation for CONCACAF to pull for them.
And on another point, Spanish is the most common language of Belize, that english thing is just a gov't holdover from the British colony days.
Uh, I don't think it's a holdover. I had two roommates from Belize in college, and they didn't speak much Spanish at all. They spoke English and patois.
Nicaragua it is. No one wins anything, though, as that wasn't even what the post was about. jaooy, I agree with your point, but some people think anything I say is defending Mexico, simply because they keep thinking I'm Mexican. Hey, I don't mind the comparison - I don't think it's really possible to be raised in SoCal and not be affected by Mexican culture, so I feel like I'm sort of Mexican, but technically, I'm not.
Mexico is in North America, el rey, not Central.
I was talking to Grahame Jones about Nicaragua in the press box yesterday and he mentioned something interesting. "In over thirty years of covering this sport and specifically the CONCACAF region, I have never seen any Nicaraguan team - club, youth or senior level - play a game."
UM I was being sarcastic A.C....HELLO?!
el rey, I figured you were being sarcastic, but I find it funny that so many people don't classify Mexico as being in North America. Even in Mexico, people will say "norteamericanos" and mean the U.S or Canada. It's like, "Hey guys, it's not like there's Central America and then you guys are by yourselves - you're part of North America." I was just taking the opportunity to mention that.
I am Mexican and I hate fucken excuses when we lose. We lost and that's it. No matter what the ref, the commentators, CONCACAF, ball-boys or anyone else does to sabotage or chances of winning, it all comes down to putting the ball in the back of the net, and we did not do that the way we should have. We did not score on open goal opportunities. Enough with the excuses!!!
Michoacano
P.S. AC is mexican... lady-from-michigan. LOL
I get the feeling that AC´s post was directed at me. However, I stand by my statement. I am not sure what Ante thinks or does not think,however, my guess is that a ¨north american¨ reporter would not necessarily assume that the fix was in and then ask a question regarding the fix. Mexicans always assume someone has been bought. You are right,however,it is not just Mexicans. You can probably through in SA and CA forthat matter. It is a common theme..even in Argie..
Gabriel, it was a Canadian reporter who was telling me he believed the fix was in for the Gold Cup. I don't know if he asked about it, though. I didn't travel to any Gold Cup games - I just covered the ones in LA, and Canada didn't play there this year.
A.C.
You're right. I can remember being a kid and hearing people refer to the U.S. as Norte Americanos especially soccer announcers. I didn't think it was peculiar until I grew up and learned basic Geography. That's when I thought what are they talking about, we're from North America too. So confusing growing Mexicano!!
From a continental point of view, isn't everybody north of Colombia a North American?
Honestly, I agree with AC that it's unfair to say that Mexicans are more prone to conspiracy theories than anybody else in CONCACAF. She's right that some Canadians cried conspiracy when the refs screwed Canada in the Gold Cup semifinal, just like some Mexicans are crying conspiracy now.
But I think a lot of Americans (not just US Americans) are more prone to notice any Mexicans who do complain about conspiracies because the Mexican national teams have a (partially justified) reputation for arrogance when it comes to regional competition. So whenever anybody from Mexico complains about conspiracies, it just augments that reputation. (A reputation the Canadians don't really have, mostly because they haven't ever had a pretext for being arrogant about soccer.)
It's worth pointing out that as long as CONCACAF continues to be run by Jack Warner, every conspiracy theory, no matter how loopy, will have a veneer of plausibility.
Was L.B. joking, or did he really not know you are from Nicaragua?
As a US supporter I find the "Canada got screwed" conspiracy quite believable. And this Canadian retaliation almost as believable. In fact, the only unbelievable thing for me in all of this is that Mexico couldn't put in 2 more goals against Haiti. My sister and I could have scored the 2 goals needed against that Haitian defense.
Yeah, I was joking, though for a while there I didn't know her parents' background.
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