With the World Cup just a few months away, American soccer fans are gearing up to watch the best international players take the pitch stateside. And last weekend, fans in Arkansas got their own taste of the action and a historic golden clash. Ozarks at Large's Daniel Caruth has more.
Outside of Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Football Stadium on a Saturday afternoon in late March, music bleeds out of the speakers while onions and peppers sizzle on portable metal stoves. The usual Razorback red is replaced by blue and yellow jerseys as fans stream up Razorback Road in Fayetteville to witness something historic.
This is the first time two international soccer teams have played a match inside Razorback Stadium.
The Mexican league teams Tigres and Club América competed in the so-called Golden Clash this past weekend, a matchup of two of the biggest soccer rivals in Liga MX. Numbers from the University of Arkansas ticket office reported nearly 1,900 fans turned out to watch the men's and women's teams face off in this late spring friendly match.
Fans like Samu Rodriguez, who drove about an hour from Van Buren:
"I think it's just for the family. We have a huge family, so I think it's fun. Good atmosphere. It's always good to be out here and watching soccer and just being around family. So that's more of like a tradition for all of us. We live about an hour, 45 minutes away from here, so it's pretty close. It's huge to be able to see our favorite team come so close to us. And it's nice. I'm pretty sure it's historical for them too. So it's nice to be part of that history."
He and his family got to the stadium parking lot at 9 a.m. to scope out a tailgate spot with a grill, cooking up carnitas, tacos and salsa.
"I think as a kid, we dreamed to one day play there. But now to be able to see it and be so close. And not only that, but we got our kids here and it's nice for them to see that too. It's a nice tradition. And not only that, but we inherit that love and that passion into them and they see how it is family-wise. We love soccer. And the World Cup is coming up too, and Mexico will be doing some good stuff and USA as well. We're just excited that it's here."
Husband and wife Luis and Elizabeth of Fayetteville say they heard about the match two months ago when it was announced and almost couldn't believe it was real.
"I got excited. I was like, my wife, my mom, I was like, hey, we gotta go. We gotta go see."
"For sure. Supporting the Mexican league, supporting our culture. Football is a huge part of what we grew up with. It's family. It's a good time."
Ana Sofia is a student at the University of Arkansas and member of Sigma Iota Alpha, the only Latina sorority on the university campus. She says events like this show that Latinos in Northwest Arkansas are a major economic market, which is often untapped.
"The Latino community is only getting every couple of spikes. Every couple of spikes. Versus if it were a spike over and over in a continuous effort, you would see the Latino community in Rogers and Springdale and even Hot Springs fully invested. There would be such a huge impact because we already have venues catered towards us. It's just about making them more mainstream because we are pulling in the numbers, we are pulling actual money into this because it's making a direct and indirect local impact. So you can't tell me that we're not here."
Kevin Estrada is president of the university's Latino fraternity, Phi Iota Alpha, and says he hopes today's games will help bring in more events like this.
"What's really exciting is this is one of the first bigger opportunities that U of A has given to a third party to come in and host their games here. This is a huge Latino event. I think it's a really nice opportunity to have everyone come in."
The afternoon unfolds like a festival, with booths and games for kids just inside the stadium, vendors selling jerseys and flags, and people taking pictures in front of the stadium decked out in their soccer kits with big Mexican flags draped over their shoulders.
Luis, from Fayetteville, says moments of joy like this are an oasis in a political climate where Latinos are often under threat of discrimination or harassment because of federal immigration enforcement policies.
"It's good. It brings a little hope that things can get better, that we can find common ground in the love of the game, and that Arkansas and the University of Arkansas is hosting something like that. It's good to see that they are not letting politics affect them, that they are doing what they think is best and listening to the community, bringing the love of soccer to the area. It's immigration, everything that's going on right now. It's crazy. I know that may even affect some of the turnout today, because people might be afraid to come out and show support. It's a little crazy world right now. But we're out here supporting for that and many other reasons, and we love the game. And we want to show up and show that we're not going to be intimidated like that."
Ultimately, Club América took the win for the women's game, beating Tigres 2-1. The men's match ended in a 1-1 draw. But for most fans, regardless of who they were rooting for, everyone seems to have left a winner.
"Yeah! Go, Tigres! Viva México!"
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
