| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico 
Mexico Gears Up as Team Gets Set to Kick Off World Cup Play
 Dudley Althaus - Houston Chronicle
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June 10, 2010
| | Pedro Segura, 72, has been playing soccer since he was 4 in his native Colombia. The retired petroleum engineer said he thinks playing every week has kept him young. (Johnny Hanson/Chronicle) | |
For a few delirious, nail-biting hours on Friday, Mexico's work life will grind to a halt as tens of millions gather to watch their national team battle South Africa in the World Cup's opening game.
Teachers have been told to bring televisions to school to keep students from playing hooky. Mexico City government will broadcast the game on an enormous screen in the Zocalo, the capital's yawning central plaza.
President Felipe Calderón will be joining an estimated 15,000 other Mexicans in South Africa — though officially, he is on business to strengthen ties with Africa.
Yeah, right.
At the heart of all the fervor is Mexico's young squad. Most are not even 25 years old yet, and they stand among the best the country has fielded in decades, analysts say.
The team's Spanish coach, Javier Aguirre, has World Cup experience, and many of the players have played for European teams. The Mexican players thrilled fans last week with a sensational warmup game win over Italy, considered one of the world's best teams.
“It will be crazy. We expect to be very busy,” said Alejandra Carrera, who manages a Starbucks in the courtyard of a large office and retail complex in south Mexico City. The courtyard boasts five flat-screen televisions on the surrounding walls.
“There are some offices who aren't letting their employees watch the game,” she said, “but they are very few.”
Fans aplenty
Mexicans' fervor for their team, for soccer and for the World Cup is nearly impossible to exaggerate. Mexico, like much of the rest of the world, has a critical mass of fanatics.
The fever has been fanned here for months now. Daytime television programming regularly features starlets and normally reserved news anchors — some dressed in clown suits — playing mind-numbing soccer games on sound stages. Companies selling almost any product imaginable have launched merchandising tie-ins.
“We have two religions in Mexico — Catholicism and football,” Alfredo Sandoval, a veterinarian from the Gulf Coast city of Tampico who now lives in Canada, said before embarking on a 30-hour journey to Johannesburg. “Football is part of your life, part of your culture.”
Restaurants, bars and shopping centers nationwide will open early, hoping to churn business by showing the game anywhere they can on large-screen televisions.
Chance of a lifetime
Of course, even the most optimistic don't expect Mexico's boys to survive past the final eight of the 32 competing teams.
“There is always a chance; there is always hope,” said Juan Noguez, 24, who pumps gasoline at a busy station. “We have some very good players. But in the end, something always seems to go wrong.”
Veteran striker Guillermo Franco admitted he and his teammates will be living a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity Friday.
“We're very aware of thousands and millions of people who are going to be watching and the important personalities who are going to be there, like Nelson Mandela,” he said. “These are people who made history. People who, with their work, did so much for society. For us, it's simply a blessing to be able to open the door to an event as important as the World Cup.”
McClatchy Newspapers contributed to this report.
dudley.althaus(at)chron.com
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