Soccer fans behaved badly. Who would have believed it? In fact, the entire scene, including media reporting on the event, would seem like a tragi-comic parody if it had not actually happened.
Sunday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas — home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys — the United States men’s national soccer team defeated Mexico, 2-0, to win its third consecutive CONCACAF Nations League championship.
As one might expect given the venue, thousands of Mexico partisans attended the game. And some vented their frustrations by hurling cups of beer and other objects at U.S. players and fans.
“That was unfortunate because we want a really competitive game. We want a great atmosphere, but we don’t want to get things thrown at us,” U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said, per the Associated Press. “It’s unsafe and someone can get hurt.”
Indeed, it should not have happened. Nothing controversial occurred on the field, for the U.S. players put on quite a show.
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USMNT midfielder Tyler Adams opened the scoring with a right-footed rocket from well beyond the penalty area. Adams’ goal, which came in the 45th minute, brought the U.S. fans to their feet.
Readers may view the impressive, long-distance strike below.
TYLER ADAMS FROM THE PARKING LOT ARE YOU FOR REAL??? 💥🚀🔥 pic.twitter.com/ZrK7PoxCST
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) March 25, 2024
Should the fans who engaged in this behavior be punished?
But the madness began after halftime.
In the 63rd minute, midfielder Gio Reyna scored to make it 2-0, United States. Reyna’s strike came after Mexico failed to clear the ball from inside its own penalty area.
GIO REYNA. DOS A CERO. 😤🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/xgJLAA6T2o
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) March 25, 2024
Something about the game’s score, 2-0, must have sent some Mexico fans into a rage. After all, that final score, “Dos a Cero,” has a history in this storied rivalry dating to the U.S. victory over Mexico at the 2002 World Cup in Korea-Japan.
Whatever the reason for the outburst, Mexico fans began hurling objects at celebrating U.S. players immediately after Reyna’s goal. Most of those objects appeared to be cups, as seen in the video below.
Mexican fans launching anything available at the American players after the Reyna goal. Strange fans. #usmnt #usa #ConcacafNationsLeague pic.twitter.com/XVdPYCLC7N
— Lee Hinton (@LeeAHinton95) March 25, 2024
Here is a closer view from a different angle. In the video below, the bottle barrage came so heavily that the camera operator panned to the crowd.
The social media user who shared the video on X called the outburst the “Dos a Cero beer showers.”
Dos a Cero beer showers pic.twitter.com/ha9fKOk8Uq
— 29 (@DiegoMendoza29_) March 25, 2024
Alas, things got worse in the stands. One never quite knows whom to blame for starting such nonsense. But in this case the Mexico fans certainly did not refrain from attacking their U.S. counterparts.
“Mexico fans throwing beer toward section of US fans. Police escorting people out. The game is over,” one X user reported.
Mexico fans throwing beer toward section of US fans. Police escorting people out. The game is over.
— Laken Litman (@LakenLitman) March 25, 2024
One U.S. fan provided pictures of himself “Bleeding profusely” from either a thrown beer can or a thrown battery.
In typical tough-guy fashion, however, the same fan noted that he would now have an “awesome war story.”
I went to my first US/Mexico soccer game. US won Dos a Cero.
Game ends, Mexico fans start throwing beer. Someone threw a battery?beer can? who can tell for sure. Bleeding profusely, run to the first aid station. Five staples later, I have an awesome war story.@USMNT @pulisic pic.twitter.com/mfXENdrmYo— Goat (@goat97) March 25, 2024
Elsewhere, an actual fist fight broke out between a U.S. fan and at least one Mexico fan.
Soccer, of course, hardly has a monopoly when it comes to reprehensible fan behavior. In fact, Sunday’s outburst did not even qualify as the most notorious rubbish-throwing incident in recent sports history.
On Dec. 16, 2001, Cleveland Browns fans tossed hundreds of bottles onto their own home field in a show of anger over poor officiating near the end of a 15-10 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Officials called the game with 48 seconds remaining in regulation due to safety concerns. Then, those same officials had to cover their heads as they ran off the field and fans pelted them.
Readers may view the conclusion to that infamous “Bottlegate” game here.
Nonetheless, everything about Sunday’s U.S.-Mexico soccer game might strike an outside observer as predictable, even comically formulaic.
For one thing, soccer fans across the world have acquired a well-earned reputation for hooliganism. Something about that game in particular seems to bring out the worst in its most rabid followers.
Secondly, the establishment media showed where its absurd priorities lay. In fact, the Associated Press mentioned the bottle-throwing only in passing. Instead its story focused on hand-wringing over “homophobic chants by pro-Mexican fans.”
Those chants even caused the referee to suspend the game for nearly five minutes under CONCACAF’s anti-discrimination policy.
Not to be outdone, CBS Sports bemoaned recent championship matches “marred” by the usage of anti-LGBT chants by Mexico fans.
Finally, the game’s Texas location all-but guaranteed a pro-Mexico crowd. At a press conference leading up to the game, Mexico head coach Jaime Lozano said that he expected substantial support.
“Dallas, AT&T Stadium, has become the second home of the Mexican national team,” Lozano said, per The Dallas Morning News.
“Every time we play here, we feel the support of our fans,” he added. “It is a stadium where we are good at things, and we always go out to try to win the game and leave our fans satisfied. We are practically the home team in this stadium.”
Of course, when it comes to soccer enthusiasm in general, U.S. fans typically lag far behind the fans of other nations. Mexico supporters outnumbering U.S. supporters at a soccer game should neither surprise nor alarm anyone.
Still, the entire scene appeared a tragi-comic microcosm of broader developments: pro-Mexico fans taking over a large structure in Texas and engaging in bad behavior or even violence — all while the establishment and its media minions clutch pearls over unapproved words.
