FEATURE SERIES: Football's Greatest International Rivalries - USA & Mexico

In this excerpt of the second part of a mini-series during the World Cup, available in full to subscribers on Patreon, the team look at the greatest international footballing rivalries, continuing with Mexico and the USA. The full episode is available on the World Cup Football Etc/World Sports Etc Patreon page: 

https://tinyurl.com/FriendsofWorldSportsetcPatreon

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Hello and welcome to World Cup Football, etc., with me, Paul Schmetroszke, and today is Monday. That means we have a new Patreon teaser for you on our new episode on the greatest football rivalries in the world. Of course, we're speaking about international football rivalries among countries. And if you want to listen to the full episode, then you can find the link to our Patreon page in the show notes or in the podcast description. The football rivalry between the United States and Mexico, known as El Clásico de la Conca Caf, is a fierce battle for North American soccer supremacy wrapped in complex geopolitical layers. For decades, Mexico ruled the region undisputed, treating the US not as a serious enemy on the pitch. However, the 1994 US World Cup brought a power shift leading to America's legendary Dos Acedo World Cup triumph in 2002. Today these matches are defined by intense physicality, raw passion, and a relentless recruitment war over top dual national talent. It is more than just a 90 minutes of sport. It is a fierce cultural collision where national pride, historical grievances, and regional bragging rights are constantly on the line. When these two rivals collide, friendships are paused, stadiums shake, and North America holds its breath. As you can hear, I had fun writing this dramatic intro. And now we are going to test if I was right to use that extreme language. Of course, I'm very pleased to be here, not uh alone, not as two, but today with both my colleagues, uh John Bonfilio and Declan Link. Um very happy to have you guys here. And uh of course, um it it is funny because you are both um citizens um of the uh um of of Britain, of England uh more specifically. And uh today uh we are speaking about a football rivalry um where you live uh for more than 20 years on the opposing sides. So I would like to start with you, John, before coming to the football level of this rivalry. Uh John, how's history looking from a Mexican perspective?

SPEAKER_02 2:46

Well, I think you've you've you've painted a nice picture there. And I I'd say, um, good evening, Paul, good evening, Declan. I'd say that uh my my initial barb in this discussion would be to say, well, there's only one serious footballing nation in and amongst these uh these two. No, I mean I'm not being serious there. Of course, some people in Mexico would would say that, and it's um it's part of the the sort of the irritation in Mexico at this World Cup that um that the US basically is the single host with a little bit of sort of fringe participation from Canada and Mexico. And a lot of I've heard many Mexicans say to me in the in the last few weeks that um that it should be uh exclusively in Mexico because Mexico is the is this the serious footballing nation here. Um I think you're you're right, Paul. It is one of the greatest rivalries, considered one of the greatest rivalries in international football. Um, I mean, partly it's a geographic uh issue, but also historically there's been lots of incidents involving fans, team brawls, and it's always competitive. But you also allude, which I think is a relevant point, to the fact that it splits families. Of course, there are uh lots of Latino families, lots of Mexican families uh uh sort of spread across the border. And a lot of the, I mean, it's not exclusive that the fan base in the United States uh is uh and for MLS is a Latino fan base, but it's certainly significant. And so all of that has sort of um been amplified as well uh by the the ongoing political issues surrounding Mexico-US relations, which of course is particularly sort of uh fraught uh at the moment. Uh and always there the matches between the two nations attract reams of media attention, public interest, and comment across both uh both countries and get huge audiences as well. Um I would uh say just as a final point, uh Paul, you know, when you describe it as El Clásico de la CONCACAF, I think that's pushing it a bit. Um because the problem is that CONCACAF is weak. It's a weak, um, it's a weak region. It uh stands with the Confederation North, Central American and Caribbean Association football. But basically, the only two sort of significant powers really there, I mean Canada have improved significantly in the recent past, but the only two significant powers are the USA and Mexico. And that's the problem, is that they constantly look to each other for affirmation and measure against each other um rather than sort of have uh widespread real competitive matches across the uh the region. I think that's one of the other reasons why that rivalry is here, because when it when you boil it down in the CONCACAF region, everything is is the USA and Mexico. So I'd say that um yeah, saying that it's the classico is a bit like saying that you know a world war that there's a world war between El Salvador and Honduras doesn't really sort of stand up to to scrutiny.