Mexicans are a very patriotic people and they are passionate about everything Mexican. Fiestas, tacos, mariachi bands, manly moustaches, etc. But like I imagine it is in most Latin American countries, soccer is at the top of that list.

With time winding down, I was recently fortunate enough to cross “Mexican soccer game” off my list of things I need to do before I go home. And I didn’t just see any soccer game, I went to the BIG one, to see the national team play Trinidad & Tobago, a World Cup qualifying match played in the 105,000 capacity Azteca stadium.

June 10 had been a day I had on my calendar for a few months, not even sure if it was realistic to hope for. It wasn’t the distance, I can make the trip from my house in two hours by metro (and for under $1, round trip I might add). It wasn’t the cost of the ticket either. At $13 for general admission seating, it’s very reasonably priced for a professional sporting event.

My doubts essentially narrowed down to two issues. Number one, in a city of 25 million, selling out the 105,000 seats every time is no problem. Number two, while a soccer game is not a war zone, that many passionate and moderately drunk people in one place, has the potential to become dangerous very fast.

As for the first issue, I returned home after our June 9 search for pre-ordered tickets demoralized. Not having a Mexican issued credit card, the only place to buy tickets was at the stadium itself. Chances were slim, and taking public transport for two hours on a slim chance almost didn’t seem to be worth it.

However, when I got back Mario contradicted every other Mexican I had talked to and assured me that after their embarrassing loss to El Salvador the week before and playing a low ranked Trinidad & Tobago, there would certainly be tickets. This, along with the chance to take Cha Chas, an excited 11 year old soccer fan to his first game, raised our spirits, and on June 10, off we went on our quest for a national soccer game.

As the metro drew nearer to the stadium, the metro cars began to fill with more and more green, until the doors finally opened at our stop and almost the entire metro piled out and began moving in an excited rush towards the stadium.

Scalpers inundated us immediately, offering tickets for between 200-300 pesos, about double the price. When we asked, they assured us that these were the only tickets left, the game had sold out hours ago. Incredulous yet anxious we pushed ahead, past hundreds of tents selling every type of merchandise imaginable, to the ticket office.

After all the drama and panic, getting tickets was almost comical. We waited in line behind one person and rather mundanely bought 4 tickets at 130 pesos. After getting patted down and entering the stadium, we realized that there were likely ten to fifteen thousand seats that never got filled.

Able to relax and take in our surroundings for the first time, we found that though the ticket had seat numbers, we were basically free to sit wherever we pleased.

In many ways, the scene was one of a professional game in the US, with tons of cheap company sponsored noisemakers and an abundance of nuts and beer. Vendors also brought around Raman soup, garnished with a lime wedge and a sprinkle of chili.

For anyone who has only watched a game on TV, the noise is unimaginable. When Mexico took the field to warm up, I could have closed my eyes and truly believed that we had already won the game by the crowd’s response. Similar noise was made when Trinidad & Tobago took the field. As noisemakers show no bias, it was left to the opposing team to understand that in their case, noise meant “you are not welcome here and we shall defeat you.”

When the game started, it took Mexico only 1:40 to score their first goal, to the overwhelming roar of the crowd. Nobody scored again until T&T squeaked one by the Mexican goalie with a minute left to go in the first half. Mexico would score the second half’s only goal, to come away with the 2-1 victory, keeping alive the slim chance they have of qualifying for the World Cup.

Besides the final score, there were many interesting things to learn and observe throughout the evening. Here are a few of them…

-- Mexicans all enthusiastically sing their national anthem. They also put their right hand over their hearts, but as a salute. It’s quite a magnificent choir.

-- A halftime show was significantly lacking. Instead, all the advertisers get to walk/drive around with flags boasting their products. Along the sidelines the bigger sponsors got to blow up inflatable bags of chips/beer bottles etc. Nobody really cared and it was all quite pathetic.

-- Where the game lacked in halftime entertainment it made up for in the wave. The wave circled the stadium during dull parts of the game like clockwork (about 2-3 minutes to make a full round). Everyone participates, and feet stomping precedes the actual wave, so you can feel the rumble about 10 seconds before the wave actually reaches you.

-- Before the opposing goalie kicks off the Mexican fans start stomping their feet, climaxing by saying what I assumed was “punto!” (point!) When the goalie finally kicked the ball. I joined in this tradition enthusiastically until I was politely informed that they were actually saying “puto!” which is the Mexican male equivalent to “slut” (I really don’t know what that would be in English). A bit embarrassed I decided that observing this ritual would suffice for the rest of the game.

-- There was no sports announcer and very little in the line of music throughout the game. I would assume this is on account of the fact that the sound system was fairly pathetic. I imagine a good sound system to power the fourth largest outdoor stadium in the world would cost a pretty penny.

-- Mexicans are very loyal to their team but not blindly so. When the Mexican team botched a scoring opportunity, people booed. When they started running the clock towards the end of the game, people booed. And when the game was over and Mexico had won, people booed. Why? Because Mexico played poorly and should have beated T&T much worse. Much is expected of the national team.

-- Whenever the fans were displeased with something, everyone throws whatever they have around them, usually paper plates, plastic cups, etc. This is undoubtedly a big reason why you can’t buy beer in glass bottles. Ironically enough, when Mexico scores, the fans do the exact same thing. Without fail, I could count on a two minute rain of Corona beer every time something exciting happened.

To address my second concern of soccer games being dangerous, I wasn’t entirely overreacting. The fifteen fans from T&T were escorted out by over 50 policemen in full riot gear. Maybe a bit much considering we beat them, but then again, maybe not.

The bigger danger though, was the fact that a good 50,000 of us by my estimation, had to take single metro line to get back home. Things bottlenecked when we got near the metro line and the pushing from the crowd made me fear for the first time in my life that I could very possibly be trampled to death. When a spooked or angry crowd that big gets out of control, there is nothing anyone can do to stop it.

When we finally got past the ticket window it was a stampede to get on. Packed in like cattle, we rode the metro line back for two hours. Though the crowds eventually thinned out, drunk and enthusiastic soccer fans chanted and banged on the walls of the metro cars all the way back, jumping up in down in unison and causing the speeding metro train to bounce up and down in a very unnerving manner.

We got back home around 1:00, exhausted but happy. A shower than night got all of the beer off of me, but I still have faint signs of the green, red, and white body paint, a reminder of the biggest Mexican fiesta I will ever be a part of.