The Multicultural Musings of a Mexican American Woman and her Italian Fidanzato in the Diverse City of Portland, Oregon
Monday, February 23, 2009
For the Love of Calcio aka Futbol aka Soccer...
The Italian and I share a love for the sport. My Father played in a Semi-Professional League in Mexico and then a league here in the States, so I grew up around the sport. Not to mention the fact that Mexico has a spectacular national team known as El Tricolor (the Italian national team is known as "i Tricolore"). My favorite regional team from Mexico are known as "Las Chivas". They are the team with the most wins in Mexico and are from Guadalajara, which is near where my Father is from. Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot of money for the sport in Mexico like there is in Europe. In fact players like Rafa Marquez and Andres Guardado often leave Mexico in search of better compensation for their talent. Rafa plays for FC Barcelona and in fact when I was in Barcelona visiting the futbol stadium, the employees there expressed to me how much they love Rafa, which of course made me very proud.
Ale, is an FC Inter Milano aka "I Nerazzuri" fan. I would say it's his second love, but who I am kidding?? I remember in the beginning of our relationship he said something to me like, an Italian mans calcio team will always be his first love because a wife can always be traded, but his team, never. Ha! I like to think I have taken the lead in that race, or at least I am neck and neck!! Anyhow, on my first visit to Milano, Ale treated me to a match at San Siro against Parma. Now I have been to many sporting events. Laker games, NFL games, college football games, baseball games but nothing compared to this. I have to say that Italian (and maybe German) soccer fans are truly the craziest fans I have ever come across. I've never seen anything like it! If I remember correctly, I was the only woman in that section, also known as the Bob Uecker seats here in the states, so it's probably better that I didn't understand too much Italian at the time because I am pretty sure there were some pretty vulgar things being said. I had fun though and I hope to go to many more matches in the future, especially against teams like Juventus, AC Milan and Roma. Am I being too ambitious?? I have to admit, their song is pretty catchy. Have a listen and admire the hotness!
When I saw this video of this amazingly talented 6 year old, I was stunned! This kid truly has skills. It's like he's dancing with the ball. His name is Madin Mohammed and he is from Algeria but has lived in France for the last 3 years of his life. He is being compared to Zidane and is already on the radar of several big clubs. Let's hope there isn't too much pressure put on this little guy.
Mexico and Italy's national flags have the same colors. It's kismet!
Ale wrote a nice post about about a project by Inter called Inter Campus here
Labels:
Calcio,
El Tricolor,
Inter Milano,
Italianisms,
Italy,
Mexico,
Soccer,
Sports,
The Italian
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5 comments:
That little Madin Mohammed is so crazy cute, he's impressive...just wow!
wow, you saw a match in San Siro. That has to be cool! even if I don't like soccer, the atmosphere there has to be amazing!
My Italian doesn't like calcio. A sacrilege, I know.
It's wonderful that you and Ale share this passion!
Amber-yes, he is so impressive! I just hope the emphasis is on education as the little guy grows up.
fromtheworld-It was definitely very cool and I would love to go there again.
KC-It is great that we have something that we can enjoy together. Now if I could only get him to play tennis with me...I've tried and he hates it so he won't even get on the court with me. I won't hold it against him ;-)
I had to show my son this post. Inter has gone to his head!
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