{"id":58701,"date":"2026-06-19T22:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T22:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/58701\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T22:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T22:07:11","slug":"the-joy-of-mexicos-soccer-triumph-in-the-trump-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/58701\/","title":{"rendered":"The joy of Mexico’s soccer triumph in the Trump era"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Brenda Jaimes pushed her way through an ecstatic crowd in downtown Santa Ana Thursday night, stopping in the middle of Fourth Street and calling attention to herself by shouting, \u201cMe! Me!\u201d<\/p>\n

An hour earlier, Mexico beat South Korea 1-0 in the World Cup<\/a>. Jaimes, a 22-year-old Santa Ana resident, was one of thousands of people who crowded into the neighborhood\u2019s many bars and restaurants<\/a> to watch the thrilling victory then spilled onto the streets to party.<\/p>\n

Fans blew horns and spun noisemakers, chanting \u201cM\u00e9xico!\u201d and \u201c\u00a1S\u00ed se puede!\u201d They brandished the Mexican flag seemingly everywhere: on banners, painted on cheeks, emblazoned on Jaimes\u2019 tube top. They stood on the back of trucks and boogied.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

Brenda Jaimes, 22, gets thrown up in the air during a celebration in downtown Santa Ana after Mexico defeated South Korea 1-0 in a World Cup match Thursday.<\/p>\n

(Gustavo Arellano\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

An Orange County Fire Authority truck flashed its sirens to cheers. A line of drivers cruised down Fourth Street \u2014 the historic cultural and economic heart<\/a> of Latino Orange County \u2014 to high-five the crowd and let people shake their cars as if everyone was inside a bounce house.<\/p>\n

Jaimes wanted something more dramatic.<\/p>\n

She lay down in the arms of some men wearing green Mexico soccer jerseys. They counted to three, launched her a good 8 feet upward, then effortlessly caught the laughing Jaimes.<\/p>\n

Scenes like this replicated themselves across Southern California after the match, from Koreatown<\/a> to Boyle Heights to Pacoima to Huntington Park \u2014 really, anywhere with a big Latino population. It happens any time<\/a> Mexico wins big in soccer. But the pachanga was even more pronounced in Santa Ana.<\/p>\n

\"Korea <\/p>\n

Korea and Mexico fans react as Korea almost scores against Mexico during a watch party for the World Cup match at Seoul International Park on Thursday.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

A year earlier, Fourth Street was empty. Federal immigration agents were seizing people across the city<\/a>. The National Guard set up a roadblock complete with an armed Humvee<\/a> for over a month, just a block away from where Jaimes and so many others celebrated.<\/p>\n

One of the most Latino big cities in the country trembled in fear. On Thursday night, Santa Ana erupted in joy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis here is the antithesis of the raids last year,\u201d said Sandra De Anda, who wore a Stetson and a Tigres Mexican soccer club jersey and waved a South Korea flag. She\u2019s the director of policy and legal strategy at the Orange County Rapid Response Network. <\/p>\n

Last June, the Santa Ana native joined thousands as they marched down Fourth Street for days demanding that ICE and the National Guard leave town. Through the rest of 2025<\/a>, she and others in the Rapid Response Network fought la migra in courthouses and through fundraisers for immigrant detainees and their loved ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey tried to take our community down, but they had no chance,\u201d De Anda added as her boyfriend rushed off to join the celebration. \u201cWe Mexicans always get beat down, but we have pride. Tonight, you see how we stand up when we need to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jaimes agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so important to do this especially after last year,\u201d she told me after her short turn as a Cirque du Soleil performer. \u201cWe don\u2019t care what Trump can say about this. It was his birthday recently \u2014 who cares? This right here is real.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another young woman shrieked as she sailed above us. Jaimes pointed at her, then looked at me. \u201cThrow yourself tambi\u00e9n [also], bro!\u201d<\/p>\n

I stuck to slapping the hoods and windows of so many cars that my hand turned black with soot.<\/p>\n

\"Mexico <\/p>\n

Mexico soccer fans shake a car cruising down Fourth Street in downtown Santa Ana after Mexico\u2019s 1-0 World Cup win over South Korea on Thursday.<\/p>\n

(Gustavo Arellano \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Seeing Mexico become the first country to win its World Cup group would be thrilling any year. But in 2026, when Trump continues to meddle in Latin American affairs<\/a> while his migra goons keep launching raids across the country, the satisfaction hits that much more.<\/p>\n

Few things irk Trump and his followers more than Mexicans succeeding at anything. Eleven years ago this week, he announced his presidential campaign by stating that Mexico was \u201cnot sending its best\u201d immigrants but instead, people he claimed were mostly rapists and drug dealers. Trump has spent his two terms obsessing over the U.S.-Mexico border, attacking anything that reeks of diversity and demeaning Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum<\/a> as if she were a junior executive at one of his many failed companies.<\/p>\n

Conservatives and more than a few liberals always get furious when Mexican Americans wave the flag of their ancestral homeland<\/a> \u2014 but rooting for Mexico\u2019s soccer team especially brings out the venom. Fans far outnumber supporters of the U.S. soccer team during matches in this country, which brings on accusations of treason against Mexican Americans even though other diasporas do the same<\/a>, with nowhere near the same opprobrium. <\/p>\n

Haters don\u2019t get why so many Mexican Americans root for El Tri. The team embodies what it means to be Mexican: They\u2019re a good group of folks who always seem to get bad breaks and never seem to win against the powers that be \u2014 but never stop fighting for a better day, while having fun doing so.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Americans of all ethnicities should back Mexico along with the U.S. side in this World Cup, which Trump has already sullied. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security denied a Somali referee entry<\/a> into this country because he allegedly was \u201ctalking to some very bad people,\u201d per the White House World Cup task force. The Trump administration is forcing Iran\u2019s squad to base its training camp in Tijuana<\/a>, which means players have to fly to matches in Los Angeles and Seattle instead of taking every other team\u2019s short bus trip.<\/p>\n

\"Mexico <\/p>\n

Mexico fans watch a FIFA World Cup soccer Group A matchup between Mexico and South Korea in the Boyle Heights neighborhood on Thursday.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Every Mexico victory should give solace to the underdogs of the world and affirm the belief that a communion of nations engaged in friendly rivalries<\/a> is better than Trump\u2019s proclivity for launching indiscriminate raids and bombings. To cheer for Mexico is about as American as you can get right now.<\/p>\n

Sydney Tran took her turn at the Fourth Street procession in a Honda Civic packed with friends. The crowd shook her car with such vigor that the 23-year-old Westminster resident couldn\u2019t turn up the music like people shouted at her to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is crazy!\u201d yelled Tran, who wore a Mexico soccer jersey. \u201cI\u2019m Vietnamese, but this is wonderful to see my Mexican friends so happy. They deserve to be happy \u2014 it\u2019s been rough for them. It\u2019s been rough for all immigrants.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mexico <\/p>\n

Mexico fans celebrate a goal while watching a FIFA World Cup soccer Group A matchup between Mexico and South Korea in Boyle Heights on Thursday.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

The festivities were still going strong when I left. Restaurants that were usually closed by 10 p.m. had lines out the door. Dance parties sprouted on sidewalks. Rancheras, funk and oldies blasted everywhere. The police were nowhere to be seen, unlike last year, when they broke up the anti-ICE protests with rubber bullets and tear gas.<\/p>\n

Cynicism shot through me for a second. Mexico, which won on a fluke goal and two miraculous saves, stands virtually no chance of beating soccer titans like France and Argentina once the knockout stage of the World Cup begins. Trump\u2019s immigration team vows that more raids are forthcoming. And I can only hope that the overwhelmingly young crowd will take the passion they showed for Mexican soccer to the ballot box this November<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then I chilled out.<\/p>\n

Everyone around me got to breathe and scream and let out their frustrations about our nation in the most delightful way imaginable. Reality would return the next morning \u2014 but for one night, for a few hours, life was wonderful for Mexican Americans, and better days ahead seemed possible. S\u00ed se puede, indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brenda Jaimes pushed her way through an ecstatic crowd in downtown Santa Ana Thursday night, stopping in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[33025,5743,11865,33029,33026,33030,31,33028,32801,574,6920,33031,33027,33,1722,5968,4162],"class_list":["post-58701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-south-korea","tag-brenda-jaimes","tag-car","tag-country","tag-ecstatic-crowd","tag-fourth-street","tag-immigrant-detainee","tag-korea","tag-match","tag-mexican-americans","tag-mexico","tag-people","tag-raid-last-year","tag-santa-ana","tag-south-korea","tag-trump","tag-world-cup","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}