Why Are Mexico and the United States Rivals?

Tonight is the night.

USA v Mexico. 

The Bald Eagle v The Golden Eagle.

The two teams will face off in a very important matchup. Both teams need and want to win, and both teams will play their best, hardest and scrappiest soccer of their lives. These two teams do not like each other. Tensions always are high when the USA plays Mexico, but why is that?

Why is the United States Men’s National Team and Mexico’s National Team so angry, bitter and emotional towards one another?

Essentially, why are we rivals?

Soccer, otherwise known as football, is the world’s most popular sport (Sorry American football). Soccer has around 3.3 to 3.5 billion fans of the game, so the game means a lot to a lot of the human population. While most people in the world enjoy the sport, USA does not seem to like it as much as other countries. In the United States, there are so many different sports that people can watch, play and enjoy; however, in a lot of countries around the world, soccer is the basically the only sport within the country. Mexico treats soccer as the most important sport in its country, while the United States treat American football as its top sport. How does the popularity of the sport within both of the countries determine whether or not the game is a rivalry?

Maybe people that live in the United States do not want to be seen or viewed by people and fans around the world as having a poor fan base. The game is essentially a rivalry, because the United States needs another nation to promote the soccer fan base within the country. There has to be more to it than just that, right?

Did the rivalry start between the soccer teams originate from the Mexican-American War in 1846?

The United States took a lot of land from Mexico, and the hostility between the nations seems to have never gone away since. Even now, plenty of articles like this one, discuss illegal immigration from Mexico. There are many people living in the United States that believe Mexicans do not belong in the US. They take away jobs from American citizens is the most accepted phrase for justifying the end of Mexican immigration. With many Americans placing this stigma on Mexican people, an outside observer could easily see and understand how both countries feel anger and resentment towards each other. The anger and bitterness towards one another creates a lot of emotion, emotion that can be demonstrated during a sporting event between the two countries.  The soccer game allows all of the fans from both countries to express their anger and bitterness towards each other in an active, yet also passive way. The game is passive, because it is a game. The game allows anger to be released in way that does not and should not involve physical conflict between the two countries.

More Information On The Mexico-USA Rivalry

Tonight, I will be watching the game between the United States and Mexico. I would not say that I hate Mexico, but I would say that I hate their soccer team. I do not have any reason to hate Mexican people or Mexican culture, but being a fan of the sport allows me to hate certain teams or countries’ teams.

Go USA!