Chanting “Osama, Osmama” as you are cleaning the clock of the USA 4-0 in pre-Olympic soccer? Mexico, really. That is rude:
GUADALAJARA, Mexico, Feb. 10 — Few of the young Americans had experienced such grown-up soccer antagonism, with blowing horns creating the sound of a throbbing hive at Jalisco Stadium and 60,000 people jeering with the sting of hostility.
The shouted vulgarities began as the United States under-23 team appeared for warm-ups on Tuesday night. The name of each starter was heckled with collective booing. The national anthem was derided with shrieking whistles. The Mexican team, meanwhile, was greeted with fluttering confetti, waving flags and the urgent rhythm of drumbeats.
In the 26th minute, the throng began chanting “Osama! Osama!” at the Americans, but they appeared inured to such taunting and eager for a game of beautiful desperation in an attempt to reach the Olympics. And then, out of nowhere, it all fell apart. Defense had become a vulnerability for the United States in this qualifying tournament, and its opponent deftly pounced on this weakness…
“Soccer is our national sport,” Carlos Placencia, 21, a publicist, said. “We cannot let the Americans beat us at our game.” Diego Gonzáles, 23, a graphic designer, said it would be important for the collective Mexican self-assurance to defeat the bigger, richer country to the north.
“This game is a way to show them that we can win,” Gonzáles said. “It doesn’t matter if it is the United States or another country. We need to show what Mexicans are made of.” Both Placencia and Gonzáles said that anti-American chants of “Osama! Osama!” were meant in large part as a joke, even if a tasteless one. “We make fun of everything,” Gonzáles said. More seriously, he added: “We think the United States exaggerated its reaction about terrorism and security measures. We criticize the reasons why America goes to war.”
From The New York Times today.