Connor Cushnie
Adam Rosenblatt
Frontera: US-Mexico Border
3/23/15
Playing Soccer Across the Border
By Connor Cushnie
Santiago Martinez is a 22-year-old Mexican American soccer player from the border city
of El Paso Texas. He was born along with his sister in Texas to two Mexican Immigrants.
His parents crossed the border to Texas before he was born with his older brother
seeking a better life. However life was still difficult for Martinez and his family growing
up. Evan though his father, Victor Martinez, was making more money then he was in
Mexico. His father would still work long days in order to provide for his family. Not many
people wanted to higher a Mexican immigrant especially because at the time his father
was not of legal citizen status. The only jobs he could fine were low paying sometimes
just a few dollars more then minimum wage.
If there was one thing that Martinez knew growing up it was soccer. “ I started playing
when I was just a young boy and became hooked ever since,” said Martinez. “It was just
something that came natural to me.” Every chance he got he was playing soccer. “After
school I would go to a nearby field and play. On my walk home I would even have the
ball by my feet kicking it all the way back,” recalls Martinez.
Martinez would always dream of going pro. The idea of playing soccer as a career would
be a dream come true. It would also be an opportunity for him to provide for his family
as well. “Playing soccer for a career was a serious interest of mine when I began to
develop my skills.”
As he entered into high school his talents really began to show. He was a star on his high
school team. During the time he played in high school his team won two state
championships. He also played on a high-level league team in El Paso. “He was a real
talent to have on the field,” his high school coach said.
As high school came close to an end the talk of college began to start. His family did not
have the money to pay for college expenses. Martinez was hoping that his skills might
have reached the attention of colleges around the country. The only way he would
make it to college is if he could receive a scholarship to play soccer. As he hoped he
received offers from a few schools requesting his talent. However he received another
offer that he wasn’t expecting. This offer did not come from a college nor did it come
from anywhere in the United States. It was an offer for a try out for a professional
soccer team in Mexico. The team was Chihuahua FC, a rising soccer club in the top
league in Mexico known as Liga MX. “At first I could not believe it,” Martinez explained,
“I remember thinking that I had a real chance in making my dream come true.”
He decided to take the chance and traveled to Chihuahua for the tryout. It was a
vigorous few weeks, however at the end he felt good about his performance. He
received a follow up from the manager a few weeks after the try out. “When the I got
the call I was really nervous,” said Martinez. “I took a huge risk by not taking the
opportunity to play in college, making this team was huge.” He recalled the manager
telling him that they like what they saw in the tryouts and has a lot of potential. If he
came to their club they would be able to help him grow into a great player. He explained
simply that: “It was a dream come true.”
Although the coaches and managers of the team welcomed him the players did not
welcome him as he hoped. Although his family was from Mexico he was a Mexican
American. He was the only Mexican American on the team. The style of play of soccer in
America is different then in Mexico. Typically teams did not bother to look for players
north of the border. There has always been a rivalry between the two countries on a
national level. There is great pride that Mexicans take from being from Mexico. This is
why they weren’t giving Martinez proper respect when he first came to the team. “At
first I thought it was because I was young and the new guy on the team, but then I
learned soon it was because where I was from,” said Martinez. “I was confused, I was
always proud that my family was from Mexico. Growing up I was always took pride in
my Mexican heritage.” He learned Spanish at a young age from his mother so it was not
like he was completely out of place among the Mexican players. Martinez was surprised
that they did not respect his Mexican heritage. “Although I have the same background
as them, just because I was from the other side of the border they saw me as different,”
he explained.
This treatment did not affect the love and skills he had for the game. He figured if they
did not respect him because where he was from he decided to use his playing to gain
the respect he deserved. This is exactly what he did and once his teammates saw what
he was capable of doing they began to change their mind. He made his way up to a
starting position after just three years and after the fourth year he was on the team he
helped them win the league. Due his skills the team expanded their scouting and saw
the addition to a few more American players.
He has been on Chihuahua FC now and has made a name for himself as one of the top
players of the league. He is living the dream he always had as a kid. Being able to play
soccer and support his family in America means the world to him.
He gained duel citizenship in Mexico and America and decided honor his Mexican
heritage by joining the Mexican national team. “I am honored that I can represent my
heritage and play for the Mexican national team. I never thought I would be where I am
today.”
There were a couple themes I wanted to explore while writing this article. One
idea that I wanted to touch on is struggle. Although I briefly touched on this in the
article many Mexicans cross the border to find a better job in order to provide for their
family. This struggle can affect everyone in the family. In the first chapter of Batos,
Bolillos, Pochos, and Pelados there is a story about a young girl named Monica who talks
about how she would be pulled out of school to help her parents by traveling north to
work on a farm. (Richardson 19). In chapter six the author also touches on why
Mexicans migrate to the United States. In a survey done the results show that the main
reason is economic and that 70 percent of immigrants said their income increased after
immigrating to America (Richardson 157).
Another idea I wanted to touch on was pride of where you are from. I got this
this idea after reading chapter six of Batos, Bolillos, Pochos, and Pelados. The story
about Antonio Flores struck me the most. He believes that some Mexican Americans
who came to the United States have lost their Mexican identity. He says that many of
them have lost their way (Richardson 160). This is where I got the idea of having the
Mexicans on the soccer team not accept Santiago at first in the article. I thought that
this would be a good representation of how Mexicans may view the ones who decide to
cross the border and start a life in Mexico. Antonio’s story gave me the idea of having
Santiago decide to play on the Mexican national team. He explains that he remembers
many parts about Mexico that he misses such as learning how to ride a horse with his
father (Richardson 160). I thought that it would be interesting for Santiago be prideful
about where his family is from and decide to join Mexico’s team.
My article was based off of multiple articles I read about soccer across the US
and Mexico border. The character I used was mainly based off of a Mexican American
soccer player who’s name is Joe Corona who made a career from himself by traveling
across the border to play for a professional Mexican team (Fujita). He lived in San Diego,
California. The team is known as the “Xolos and are located in a town just a few miles
away from San Ysidro, California. Many of their fans as well as Corona make the trip
their from the U.S. for every game. Originally the team did not bother looking across the
border for talent in the north. Many saw American soccer to be “clumsy or “lacking of
skill (Fujita). However they now have a few Mexican American players that have a key
role on the team. “We’re not a Mexican club, we’re not an American club. We’re a
border club.” (Fujita)
I also got some ideas from two articles I read from the Los Angeles Times about
Mexico club teams as well as the national team looking north of the border for talent.
Today there are now 20 players with United States citizenship in the top two leagues in
Mexico. This used to be unheard of but in recent years the number has been growing
(Baxter). The teams will try to pick up theses players at a young age in order to teach
them the more technical style of play. As one player explains the teams like to find the
players before they are picked up by a college or the MLS (Baxter). In order to play in
the league these players must gain citizenship in Mexico. Since they have duel
citizenship they are eligible to play on either the United States or Mexican team. Many
have Mexican ties however most decide to play in the U.S. national team (Baxter). This
however differs from the other article from the Los Angeles Times I read. This article
talked about how there are many Mexican American women who play for the Mexican
women’s national team. Women’s soccer in Mexico was struggling but the U.S. women
who came to the team brought new hope (Baxter, Kevin. “Border…). Since these women
have at least one parent with Mexican ties this allows them to obtain duel citizenship
and play for the team. This allows many of these women to pursue a career in soccer
across the border that they could not do in America (Baxter, Kevin. “Border…). However
crossing the border and playing in Mexico brings some cultural difficulties. Most of the
women who go to the team don’t speak Spanish and when Mexico beat the United
States in a world cup qualifying match many were biting their tongue during the
American national anthem (Baxter, Kevin. “Border…).
Works Cited
Arangure, Jorge. "The Americas' Team." SBNation.com. N.p., 24 Jan. 2013. Web. 23 Mar.
2015.
Baxter, Kevin. "Border Crossings into Mexico Become More Frequent for Soccer." Los
Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2014. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.
Baxter, Kevin. "COLUMN ONE; A Shot at Success Across the Border; U.S. Women with
Ties to Mexico Join the National Soccer Team, Helping it Capture a World Cup
Berth." Los Angeles TimesJan 03 2011. ProQuest. Web. 23 Mar. 2015 .
Fujita, Akiko. "To Get on the US National Men's Soccer Team, You May Need to Cross
the Border into Mexico." Public Radio International. N.p., 8 July 2014. Web. 23
Mar. 2015.
Phillips, Brian. "On the Border." Grantland. N.p., 17 Aug. 2011. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.
Richardson, Chad. Batos, Bolillos, Pochos, & Pelados: Class and Culture on the South
Texas Border. Austin: U of Texas, 1999. Print.