Provost's Essay Contest: Third place
According to a report published on February 1, 2011, the Pew Hispanic Center estimated that there were about 6.5 million undocumented Mexican immigrants living in the United States in March 2010. Most of the Mexican immigrants come to the U.S. pursuing the "The American Dream" and stay in the country most of their lives. But why many of them cheer for the Mexican soccer team when it plays the U.S. team?
There are different reasons for this peculiar situation. One of those reasons is loyalty to their country. Even though they do not live there anymore and the country they are currently living in has given them most of what they have, Mexicans will most of the time be loyal to the country that saw them grow up and from where they departed in search for a better future. No matter the circumstances of the Mexican country nor the harsh situations or the bad image it has, the loyalty will always be there; although there will also be some type of loyalty to the adopted land. Another reason is the sense of nationalism and patriotism, of belonging to one nation and joining together as a whole when going though difficult circumstances, or even just to support the Mexican soccer team when playing. As Tobar described them, Mexicans "come from cultures with a strong sense of collective identity" (Tobar 165). It could also be a matter of cultural defiance for Mexicans want to show that even when they violated laws by crossing the border and living in the U. S. as immigrants, they can still support their soccer team, and if the team defeats the U.S. team, they could demonstrate that Mexicans are better than U.S. citizens. Mexicans sometimes feel that they are not part of this nation, that they do not belong here, they feel less and humiliated, thus by supporting their team they get back the sense of belonging to a nation. It also has to do with pride; Mexicans are well known for having so much pride when it comes to supporting anything having to do with their mother country. Another reason could be that Mexicans "believe they have a transnational identity, that their bodies and souls can live between two countries, that the physical borders need not exist in the mind" (Tobar 33). Regarding to the descendants of Mexican immigrants born here in the United States, they cheer the Mexican Soccer team because that is what their parents taught them to do. Perhaps they have never visited nor lived in Mexico but they have learned to follow their parents’ traditions.
The reasons mentioned are just a few of why Mexican immigrants support the Mexican soccer team instead of the U.S. team when they play against each other. I strongly believe that this situation will continue as the descendents of Mexicans are inheriting this sporting spirit.
