Within a few weeks the "mundial" starts in South-Africa. This big commercial event will be watched by millions of people all over the world. Holland is going to be there... also Mexico (my daughters country and a bit ours)and Chile (home of my wife Ana). So who to cheer for? That's the beauty of a multi cultural family... we just cheer for all of them.
A few days ago we had the match Holland-Mexico and Holland won with 2-1. Holland playing with mostly a B-team didn't had any problems with the Mexicans. A country of more then 100 million people where soccer is the nr 1 sports against a country of 16 million people. Soccer is big here and a lot of good Mexican players play with the big european teams like Manchester, Real Madrid and Barcelona. Also one player plays in the Dutch leage for PSV.
Soccer is big in Holland and Mexico but... there is a big difference. In Holland when we win, we are happy but there is always criticism... It can always better and we should have made more goals. Remember the criticism Louis van Gaal always gets in a conference after the match and his angry respons to it.
In Mexico it's different. It's never the fault of the team or the country. Never... it's the fault of the (foreign) coach... it's the fault of the weather... it's the fault of the referee... it's the fault of the oponent etc. Never let your team down I guess... but also never be objective about it. Never be open for criticism. For example in the Mexican media they told the people they had lost from Holland, but it was not the fault of Mexico. Mexico was playing probably against the winner of the Mundial and should be happy to "just" lost with 2-1. Far away from reality.
The same happens in normal life. People are not talking about the "bad things" in Mexico and blaming other people for the problems they have. A cab driver told me the other day this is a true thing: "estamos jodidos, pero felices" (We are fucked, but happy). The Mexicans accept their fate and close their eyes for the things that are wrong in their country, or blaming other people. For example that the drugkartels are the fault of the United States. Or they like a specific politician more because he is honest (meaning: he is stealing less from the people then the other).
Still... an interesting culture and country.
0 comments:
Post a Comment