Guatemala brings pride and passion to the Gold Cup fan experience

New York Times

5 days ago

This article is part of our Finding Fútbol series, a special feature produced by The Athletic to chronicle how the U.S.'s Hispanic communities celebrate and enrich the beautiful game.
CARSON, Calif. — It is still working hours on a Monday, but Jose Pivaral already has a drink in hand. He only gets a few chances to do this — not to day-drink, but to see the team he loves most, the Guatemala national team, in his city.
'It's a great opportunity for a lot of people who still hold our identity, have Guatemalan roots, to come and support the team,' he said last week. 'Not a lot of people have the opportunity to travel to Guatemala to see them play, so it's always beautiful when they come to Los Angeles.'
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Beautiful for anyone partial to the sky blue of the Guatemalan flag, which can be seen all over the parking lot at Dignity Health Sports Park. Fans of Los Chapines, the team's nickname and a term Guatemalans use to refer to each other, are everywhere ahead of the Gold Cup opener against Jamaica.
Born and raised in Los Angeles and also a supporter of the U.S. men's and women's national teams — when they're not playing Guatemala anyway — Pivaral is tailgating with the Barra de Guate. It's a United States-based fan group that supports the Guatemala national team (Siempre con Vos, its banner reads, the use of 'vos' a giveaway that the group certainly isn't backing Mexico or any other Concacaf member that would use 'tú').
Nearly 17,000 Guatemala fans will join the barra in the 27,000-capacity stadium, perhaps a surprise even to soccer fans who are used to seeing big crowds for Mexico or even teams such as Honduras and El Salvador, but may not consider the might of Guatemala.
'It's relatively small, but it's the largest country in Central America,' Pivaral says of a nation with a population estimated at more than 18 million — eight million more than the one in the region with the second-biggest, Honduras. 'We have a large presence, but it's not really known because I want to say we're not as boisterous as other countries here.'
That is, not as boisterous until it's match day in Southern California.
Pivaral continues to joke with friends as conversations flow in English and Spanish over the jaunty tunes of Fidel Funes y su Marimba Orquesta blasting out of the speakers. Then, it's time to march into the stadium. The drums get going and more and more fans circle the banner as a leader with a megaphone starts rolling through their songs.
More drinks get flowing, too.
'If we win, I might call off from work tomorrow. That's probably what's going to happen,' Pivaral says. 'Hopefully, we get this win and are safe and respectful.'
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Few of his colleagues will have any idea why, exactly, he'll need to take the day, Pivaral says. Though he's wearing his support for Guatemala on his chest Monday, he doesn't make it a point to share with coworkers that he lives and dies with Los Chapines. He says that's typical, though. Except for days like the present.
'We are just humble, hardworking people. That's what we want to be known as,' he says. 'People find out and are shocked. Like, 'Wow, you're Guatemalteco?' I'm like, 'Yeah!' I don't really put it out there, but today I will. I'm going to let the world know.'
He is not alone.
According to U.S Census data, 170,000 Guatemalan immigrants live in L.A. County, far more than second-place Harris County in Texas, where Houston hosted Guatemala's final Gold Cup group match against Guadeloupe Tuesday night. More than a fourth of Guatemalan immigrants to the U.S. live in California, and it feels like all of them are in the stadium as La Barra takes its position behind the end zone.
There, they help give the place a distinctly pro-Guatemala vibe and are delighted by their team's best performance in recent memory. Guatemala's center backs repel Jamaica's fast, physical forwards. Their front line complicates Jamaica with an effective press. And Oscar Santis starts and finishes a move in the 32nd minute for the game's only goal.
And so Guatemala opens its Gold Cup finals campaign with a win over Jamaica, a team that had less than a week earlier won a meeting between the teams in World Cup qualification 3-0 at home in Kingston, albeit with different lineups in what was a dead-rubber match with both nations already through to the next group stage. Significantly, Jamaica had also ended Guatemala's Gold Cup run in the previous edition of the tournament two years ago with a 1-0 win in the quarterfinals.
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The victory, fueled by the Barra de Guate and other fan groups, was its first over Jamaica since 2012.
'The push the fans gave us here was vital,' manager Luis Fernando Tena said. 'With our players defending every ball with everything they had, I really think it was exciting for everyone on the outside to see how they put in the effort, how they fought, what they left on the field, the solidity.'
The Barra de Guate heads to the parking lot, continuing the festive vibe, waving flags and jumping in celebration. Plenty make a call to the office that night or will in the morning. Tuesday will be a day off for many.
Supporting Guatemala can lead you to do wild things.
Juan Rodas is a California native and a huge fan of Los Chapines. But he wanted to go beyond singing, cheering and supporting in the stands to try to make the team play better.
Rodas started making videos talking about Guatemalan soccer on YouTube and updated a few other social media pages. In the process, he realized there were plenty of Guatemalans like him, born abroad but eligible for the national team through their parents or grandparents.
After learning that attacker Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, who signed for MK Dons of League Two, English football's fourth tier, this offseason after playing 131 matches with Derby County in League One and the second-tier Championship the past three seasons, was interested in suiting up for Guatemala, Rodas became a de facto lawyer, leading the English-born player through the passport process in video sessions at odd hours because of the time difference.
Mendez-Laing debuted in the 2023 Gold Cup and helped Guatemala to the quarterfinals.
Rodas has put dozens of potential recruits on the federation's radar, including a few other high-profile players on the senior men's national team.
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Why dig into the paperwork process and spend so much time researching whether youth players might be eligible for Guatemala?
'I think the main motivation is just to see our country succeed at any level, whether it's the men's or the women's side,' Rodas said, in an interview before the match with Jamaica.
'Historically, as Guatemalans, nothing has really favored us. Now, we've been to two World Cups at the under-20 level, but historically, Guatemala hasn't been on that top level.'
'I think recruiting players from all over the world who have skill and definitely can make a difference on our side is highly important,' Rodas continued. 'And I feel like with recent results, whether the under-20s or the senior national team, we're definitely improving.'
Not since the 2006 cycle, when it finished fifth in the Hex, two points out of the playoff place, has Guatemala been this close to a World Cup. Santis netted a hat trick in a 4-2 win over the Dominican Republic earlier this month that put Guatemala into the final round of qualification for the 2026 World Cup.
'It leaves the door wide open for Guatemala to finally get through, finally make the World Cup,' Pivaral says. 'I'm very confident they can and will do it, but this is it. It's now or never. I think that's why our support is huge today because I think these fans sense we could finally do it.'
Even though Gold Cup performance has no direct bearing on World Cup qualification, the confidence was on the wane after Guatemala's second Gold Cup group game, when it fell 1-0 to Panama in Austin, Texas. It was another good performance from Tena's team, which wasn't able to press Panama as hard thanks to its defenders' calmness on the ball.
Tuesday's final group game, however, brought some redemption — plus a quarterfinal spot against Canada in Minneapolis on Sunday. Beating Guadeloupe 3-2 involved surviving a few nervous moments, but a place among the best eight teams in the confederation is not to be sniffed at.
Whatever happens next, perhaps it can spur a charge toward a bigger prize.
Panama is a direct rival in the Concacaf's third round of World Cup qualifying, starting in September, as part of a group that also includes El Salvador and Suriname. Only the winners of the round's three groups automatically go through to the first-ever 48-team World Cup, with second place potentially earning a spot in the interconfederation playoffs, also involving another Concacaf team plus one each from Asia, Africa, Oceania and South America, with two of the six also qualifying.
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It looks to be the most difficult group on paper, but Guatemala fans believe there's still a chance this group is the one.
Especially those in Los Angeles, who are already dreaming about how much bigger their party will be next year than the one they enjoyed for the Gold Cup match.
'Oh, boy. Wherever they go,' Pivaral said. 'If Guatemala makes the World Cup, I'm traveling wherever they go in the United States, Mexico (Canada is also a co-host).'
No one in La Barra would mind a few more early starts, a few more late nights and a few more calls into the office saying, 'Yes, I'm Guatemalan and proud. And no, I won't be in today.'
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