Recent Gold Cup (Soccer) Tournament - and the media's "hands-off" approach

**Alundil** · 06-28-11, 06:04 PM

Sorry, Mexico, great win but fans were embarrassment - SOCCER - Sporting News

Where is the out cry and 24/7 media coverage of the intolerance and poor sportsmanship exhibited by many of Mexico's fans (who I am willing to bet live in the USA in one manner or another).

Would it be too un politically correct to call out bullshit when it's perpetrated by the "minority"?

Would, as the author suggests, USA fans in another country be granted the same tolerance by the media for the disrespect shown to the home country? I think not.

I enjoy soccer. And I enjoy watching a great number of foreign teams and players as well as American players. Why is it expected that the US just "swallow" bull-shit behavior. This isn't the first time that something like that has happened either.
From the article:

Other than a column in the Los Angeles Times, the atmosphere at Saturday’s game was hardly noted. When it was, the crowd was called enthusiastic or impassioned.

How about boorish?

Certainly not all 93,420 fans, but enough to leave you wondering just what the U.S. did to get Mexico so enthusiastic and impassioned.

The antics weren’t anything new. In a 2005 World Cup qualifier, the Mexican crowd booed the U.S. national anthem and some fans chanted “Osama! Osama!” during the game. Two years ago fans threw containers holding urine and vomit at Landon Donovan.

If American fans had done that to Javier Hernandez on Saturday, there would be a national manhunt. But almost any criticism of Mexican fans is viewed as intolerant, if bit downright racist.

The question is: How much must we tolerate?

Read more: Sorry, Mexico, great win but fans were embarrassment - SOCCER - Sporting News

Pathetic. Just simply pathetic.

**SmokenScion** · 06-28-11, 06:25 PM

It could be worse, they riot in Europe.
Oddly, that's probably why everyone's so hum-drum about it.

If it were any other sporting event I'm sure they wouldn't have left the stadium unscathed.

**MaFioSo** · 06-28-11, 06:36 PM

I'm a soccer fan, my primary team is Mexico but if their not in it I always root for the USA. I can agree that Mexico fans have displayed some poor sportsmanship in past games. In regards to this game, I didn't see any from watching the game on tv. I even paid close attention to what the response was going to be when the USA team was introduced in the awards ceremony after game....there was some booing but nothing overwhelming. In fact if you watch the video at 6:30 you will see that the majority of Mexico fans in the shot were clapping for the USA team. I also paid extra attention to the national anthems to see if the Mexican fans were gonna boo as they have in the past, and I didn't hear anything. Surely with 80,000 Mexican fans, you would think there would be some booing but there was none.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I didn't see much bad sportsmanship from Mexican fans from watching the game on TV. Are there reports saying otherwise from people that were there? Just remember that there's always going to be a few bad apples in ever group. I do acknowledge that Mexico fans have demonstrated poor sportsmanship in the past and as fan I'm embarrassed for our team. I'm not saying that it didn't happen in this game, but I didn't see anything at all from what I saw on television and I was watching closely for it.

**MaFioSo** · 06-28-11, 06:43 PM

USA introduction at 6:19, some boos but nothing overwhelming.

Okay at 6:30 you can see the fans, wouldn't say the majority but around half of Mexico fans were clapping.

8:00 More applause than boos.

Overall I don't think that their was much bad sportsmanship by Mexico fans in this game but I recognize that there has been in the past. And I also agree that in the past it has been kind of ignored by the media and commentators.

**MaFioSo** · 06-28-11, 07:22 PM

For those of you that missed it, it was one hell of a game. Probably the most exciting game I've ever seen, there were so many scoring opportunities for both teams. Here are some of the highlights. Best goal of the tournament at 2:43