OPINION — At 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3, the United States’ men’s soccer team will play Mexico at State Farm Stadium in Glendale. On paper, it’s friendly. Nobody in my family has ever used that word for this game.
Mexico can lose to the U.S. in almost any sport and take it well. Basketball, baseball, a bad night in the ring. We shake hands and go to dinner. Soccer is different. It is closer to a religion, with its own saints and its own grudges.
The rivalry I grew up with started in 2002 with the famous “Dos a Cero.” American supporters had already been chanting it after a 2-0 win in Columbus, Ohio, and then they sealed it in the round of 16 at the World Cup in Korea-Japan.
