Blanco signing - the negative Mexican reaction?
By: Tom | April 13th, 2007The Mexican reaction to the Blanco signing, at least judging by a random trawl of bigsoccer.com and youtube comments (not necessarily an accurate cross-section, admittedly), suggests it is not perhaps so overwhelmingly positive as his initial welcome at the Fire’s stadium seemed to show.
The below Blanco video (a very nice compilation of his best goals) was recently made by a fan of Blanco’s team Club America as a goodbye tribute to his hero. Some of the comments to the video do show America fans are pleased with the move (”He is here and he is my favorite player of all time i have his America Jersey and will get his Chicago Fire Jersey”, “cuahtemoc blanco is the best o yeah and chivas suck!!!”). Another comment, though, suggests a certain tinge of regret to the move: “mejor jugador de mexico [Mexico's best player] and at least he is coming to chicago i can go see him but still AMERICA #1″.
Over at Bigsoccer, in the midst of a phenomenally bitchy thread over Blanco’s move to MLS, one fan put it simply: “Cuauhtemoc Blanco=America. It will be sad to see him go.” Some seem bitter that he’s chosen to take the money in MLS - a league not held in wide regard by Mexican football league fans fans (one writes “the MLS is incredibly inferior to the MFL.. so hopefully blanco can crush those easy defense lines in the MLS”) - and will not finish his career at America. Others worry playing in MLS will lower his own standard of play, costing him his place in the Mexican national team.
And what about all those many Chivas Guadalajara fans that despise Blanco, as the star player for their rivals? The video below, whose description roughly translates as “Now that he’s leaving the Eagles of America, the Goats [Chivas] bid him goodbye with this video that I made”, is hardly complementary to Temo, who is derided as the “Hunchback” by Chivas fans.
Alternatively, another Chivas fan on the bigsoccer thread shows a more ambiguous reaction to the move: “As for blanco, it sucks to see him leave mexican soccer for a lesser league. the man is an icon to mexican football, and one of the most creative players ever. he just makes those around him better. this is coming for a chivas fan. i’m gonna miss the old, slow, hunchback.”
Can Blanco and the Fire convince fans of the Mexican league that MLS is worth watching?
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Hasn’t that been the question for MLS for a number of years? Chivas were supposed to attract Mexican interest in the league. Not too sure if they have. Other Mexican players, albeit lesser names than Blanco, have also been used to attract fans. The results are mixed, IMO. I think having the league’s game on Spanish tv this year is a big step forward.
On a side note, my local club the Portland Timbers announced yesterday they are playing the Mexican club Nexaca in a friendly in early May. I will be very interested in seeing whether the team can convert at least some of the Mexican fans in the area into Timbers fans. It is a tough thing to do.
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It’s an odd fact that on the one hand, MLS needs Blanco to star and win over U.S. fans to support him and bring flair to the league. Yet on the other hand, if he does really well, would it just make Mexican football league fans dismiss MLS as a walk in the park anyway? Would they enjoy Blanco’s skills and then switch off, still unconvinced by the league?
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