Eva Longoria says drama of Mexican soccer team Necaxa is 'something you can't script'

NBC News

a day ago

For billions of fans around the world, soccer is the king or queen of all sports. A 90-minute game can stir up authentic emotions of joy, heartbreak, fear and pain as they witness their teams win or lose a championship.
And Eva Longoria, who stars in the new FX documentary series 'Necaxa'— named after one of Mexico's historic and storied soccer teams — says those intense loyalties and feelings can make sports stories compelling.
'That drama and emotion really is something you can't script,' she said in a video interview. 'It's what makes you keep coming back for more.'
Longoria is also an executive producer of the new documentary series featuring the now-underdog Club Necaxa as it competes in the country's Liga MX.
"Necaxa," produced by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, is in some ways like a spinoff of the two men's hugely successful 'Welcome to Wrexham' series focused on an underdog Welsh soccer team — and its recent, remarkable rise.
Like its predecessor, "Necaxa" gives viewers an inside scoop into the lives of players and fans who are holding on to the dream of becoming champions.
"The team is so much more than about winning and losing," Longoria said. 'There's so much that goes on behind the scenes with the trainers, with the coaches, with the staff, with the town, with the fans — the players at home, their wives. They're having family issues, they're having injuries — there's so much that goes into winning championships."
Diego González, a former player and the current press officer for the club, said, 'Necaxa, for me, is truly a family.'
'In the end, we spend much more time at the club or with the team than even in our own homes, so it ends up being a family for us,' he said in a video interview. 'That's what motivates me to be part of the team.'
And for Longoria, family is also a big part of sports.
Soccer is known as football or fútbol in most countries outside the United States. But as she was growing up in Texas, Longoria said, football meant one thing to her as a sports fan: her father's favorite team, the Dallas Cowboys.
'My dad was a big Dallas Cowboys fan, which means we were big Dallas Cowboys fans,' she said. 'My favorite childhood memories are going to a Cowboys game or watching the Cowboys games. And I grew up in the '90s, which was when we won, you know, three championships.'
During that decade, Necaxa also had a silver age, winning three Mexican league titles.
Now, more than a quarter-century has passed since that last championship in 1998. And clouded by inconsistent performances, Necaxa faces a difficult path as an underdog, with the club trying to reclaim its former powerhouse legacy.
Longoria is also a minority investor in the club. This isn't the first time she has backed an underdog; she's credited with stepping up to save the first movie of the popular neo-noir revenge franchise 'John Wick' with a last-minute investment of $6 million just over a decade ago.