When Mexico sends it’s people, they’re not sending their best.
Latinos are being stereotyped in the United States.
They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists.
Would I have liked for him to be president? Umm, maybe not.
There’s just a lack of respect.
Oh, he’s a piece of shit eh?
We will build a great wall.
There’s already, like, a huge wall.
An impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful southern border wall.
The wall is already there.
And Mexico will pay for the wall.
Mexico will not pay a peso. Not one peso for this wall.
My grandparents went to the US for a better life. I chose to be a soccer player. Mexico
happened to be the place where I can achieve it.
I would tell people to come visit Mexico any chance that you get, and you can make your
decision for yourself. And not listen to this fake news.
I think that the Mexican league is attractive because it’s well-structured. It has very
competitive teams, and above all it is a league that has money. For Mexican-Americans, I think
that they still feel that playing in Mexico gives them better experience than starting
to play in the United States.
Pachuca, the oldest club in Mexico, was founded by immigrant English miners - who introduced
the beautiful game to the Mexican people.
Hello, how are you? Hold the T-Shirt tight. Put the ball down.
Thanks! Hold it really tight.
This is my home here in Pachuca. I’ve been here a year now, we just moved into this house
a month ago. Got some pictures framed from the last year. Me hoisting the trophy.
Omar Gonzalez moved to Pachuca after his former club, LA Galaxy, brought in a Mexican, Giovani
dos Santos.
It came very close to me, you know, taking a big pay cut just to stay in LA because I
never thought I would be happy anywhere else. Pachuca sent over a contract, they were paying
me what I was making in LA, but here it’s net, so it’s just a no-brainer, this is
a game-changer, because you never know how long your career will last. So I had to think
about my family first.
So right now I’m taking you upstairs. Five bedrooms up here and a little play area right
here so it’s not too bad for the girls here.
I’m the proudest American but you can’t forget about where you came from. I was born
in the US, my parents are Mexican. When I came down to Mexico I got my Mexican passport,
I got my citizenship. I’m currently trying to get my daughters Mexican citizenship, and
also my wife. They’re actually downstairs.
Isla, say hi.
Hi.
And hola.
Hola.
We couldn’t be happier that we are in Mexico at this moment. To be able to raise our daughters
in a different culture, getting to see a different part of the World, is exactly what we want
at this point and we’d like to stay here for the foreseeable future.
Gonzalez was a US international before he arrived in Mexico and represents the pinnacle
of success for crossover players. Most young Hispanic footballers arrive as amateurs because
the structure of US football doesn’t offer them the same opportunities.
They have hockey and they have baseball, and football over there, soccer as they call it,
it’s not a way out of poverty. Here in Mexico it’s a way out of poverty, that’s why
it’s ingrained in the lower echelons of the social classes.
We bring them in, very young, because they have no opportunities. It’s like arrested
development. In here, they can have education and they can have a chance to develop as professional
players. Most of these kids, they don’t have a better chance.
This is Torreon, home to Santos Laguna, a club that epitomises the modern face of Mexican football.
It has been a club that has been concerned with being at the vanguard of new things.
They built a new stadium, new equipment, training grounds.
It has given a bit of continuity to youth players, providing all the conditions for development.
Ways of thinking.
That was a good turn. The Cruyff turn.
Ways of professionalising the player, creating a professional
not only on the pitch, but also off it. Making them responsible for themselves.
Is he going to shoot it?
I hope! I would!
Every time I come here, it feels like Mexico. When I was in the US, this is the vision I had of Mexico.
Santos players are obliged to take part in the club’s social responsibility programme,
Guerreros de Corazon. It’s an opportunity for American players to see the real Mexico...
We all gather up, and we go out into the community and try to help in anything we can possibly do.
We dig some dirt and we help in the garden, we play soccer with them, we just have some fun.
Some of these kids are probably smarter than me already.
It’s very special you know, it kind of reminds me of my childhood. Because I did school in
Mexico for a bit too. So I kind of remember, flashbacks, similar things like this, you know?
What is your name?
Jonathan.
Jonathan? My twin! My name is also Jonathan.
What language do you speak?
English and Spanish.
This is what represents me.
Playing a little bit of Fifa, with my friend right here. A little bit of Mexico versus USA.
Goal. Goal right there.
A Fifa rule places limitations on the global traffic of minors to mainly European clubs
who abandon them when they don’t make the grade.
Yes sir, that’s 3-3 right there.
Despite this, players as young as fourteen have been flocking across the border.
To win it right here.
You’ll miss.
Yes sir. USA over Mexico any day.
Mexican clubs are confused about how the ruling should be interpreted for these dual-nationality players.
There is a lot of people crossing the border from Mexico to the US
every day and from the US to Mexico. There
is a lot of people, they were born in Mexico but they live there, there is people, born
in the US but they came to Mexico. We bring players that want to be in Mexico because
they’re part of Mexico.
This is one of the things that is difficult to understand in the league. Because these
are things that if we go to a constitutional level, the player can complain and say 'wait,
I’m being hired as a foreigner in my own country. Even though I was born in another
country, I have a Mexican passport. Here it says Mexican.'
We go maybe eight or ten times per year to try to find young, talented players, and one
of them was Jonathan Navarro. He has the talent, and he’s a Mexican, but he also has US nationality.
So what do you think about him? He is Mexican? He is from the US? We think more on the person,
the player.
Navarro arrived at Santos as a sixteen year old, but with uncertainty around the FIFA
rule, returned home to San Jose six months and zero games later. He had to wait until
he turned 18 to play for the club.
I was a little bit depressed. Felt a bit unwanted. I had some anger in me, you know, I just wanted
to play. And the worst part was that I was away from my family and basically on my own.
Bit difficult, but that’s the sacrifice you have to make in order to get somewhere.
I see soccer a little bit different now because I know there’s a lot of players out there
with talent, and they just want to play, but the opportunity has to be there. It wasn’t
the time yet.
Guadalajara is home to Chivas, Mexico’s most famous club.
Any Mexican that doesn’t particularly like football or doesn’t watch much football
ends up supporting Chivas because they are all Mexicans.
It’s the only team that plays with a 100% Mexican team.
It’s the best team in Mexico. It’s number one in Mexico.
Made by Mexicans for Mexicans. I am 60 years old, I have been watching Guadalajara
since I was 10. It has always been Mexicans.
Even here, at this most Mexican of clubs, there’s an exception - Alex Zendejas. He
was born in Mexico, but grew up in the United States.
I had to resign from the USA, but it was something I had to do to be here, and I want to be here,
so there’s no other choice.
It’s their rule, it’s what they’ve been doing, and if they want to keep it that way
it’s fine. Obviously everyone’s dream is to play international football so we’ll
see how it goes in the future, but right now my mind is set on Chivas.
I’ve actually got a picture of when he made his debut for FC Dallas. And then I have this
one too. Just gave him a big hug, congratulating him.
He made me a better player and a stronger player. Every time when we were little he
made me work out with him. He’s a big part of why I’m here.
Damn, the keeper didn’t even move.
Take off the [table] cloth, yeah?
Me and my brother get really intense into it. We’re a sporty family.
Hopefully we’ll play for the same team, that’d be nice. But we’ll see what the future holds.
My brother just got out of college, but he played throughout his youth career. He’s
looking for a team right now, and fortunately we found him one. In a city called Tepa. It’s
like an hour away from here but it’s a second division team.
There’s people here that already made it and you’re coming here to take their spot,
and they feel threatened so they’ll do anything to keep their spot, you know? They’ll dirty
slide-tackle, they’ll call you names, so you’ve just got to
concentrate on what you’re here for, or else the country will
eat you right up and spit you back out.
Club Tijuana, the newest team in Liga MX, are in town to play Chivas. Tijuana is so
close to the US border it can exploit an exception to the FIFA rule that permits movement of
players within 50kms either side of the divide. There’s a real derby feel to the games between
these two rivals.
Why is there a great rivalry? Maybe because Tijuana is right next to the United States.
One team, Guadalajara, that is one hundred percent Mexican and the team of Tijuana, that
are foreigners, with a lot of culture from the United States, because it’s at the border
zone. Maybe that why there’s this great rivalry.
Xolos started like this, bringing in Mexican-Americans.
There it is!
You can do what you want as long as you work within the rules. And I think that Xolos saw
an open door, a light, and said that’s what I’m doing. And also to create identity with
people in Tijuana. They created a connection with Mexican-Americans and also from there
to here as well, with American-Mexicans.
The good thing about Club Tijuana is the relationship that we have with American players.
Nice shot.
Who are able to get their Mexican nationality and come down, and share the double - culture,
you could call it.
Oh, come on!
In my case, living in one country and playing in the other country, I get the best of both
worlds, right?
There it is.
On the soccer field, there is no language.
Beer!
But still here in Mexico I think they’re just more into soccer. They live soccer, they
bleed soccer. They’re proud of being Mexican.
Score a goal, score a goal, Chivas score a goal!
I’d definitely say that I’m 100% American first. People have compared this match as
Mexico v the US. We’ll have three Americans on the field and people can call it a Mexico
– US game as long as we win.
The number nine appeared. 1 – 0.
The approach of a club like Tijuana is emblematic of the truth of a blurred border between two
nations that depend upon each other for their shared prosperity.
I don’t think it’s everything. The United States is not everything. Mexicans that go
there, go to work. They go in search of a better life. They don’t go to take anyone’s
job. We will have to reach a middle point and realise that both countries need each
other. They need us as much as we need them.