On Tuesday February 11th, 2025, I drove north on Figueroa Street towards BMO Stadium in downtown Los Angeles to cover Los Angeles Football Club versus Club America, the reigning threepeat champions of Mexico’s Liga BBVA MX league. The Mexican champions brought out thousands of their local fans causing heavy traffic; drivers abruptly forced their way into the only Martin Luther King Boulevard lane into the stadium. Local vendors smiled ingratiating themselves to potential customers, including the ubiquitous hot dog vendors, some accompanied by their young children.
Alejandro Zendejas and Ryan Hollingshead
LAFC beat Club America with a score of 2-1. Denis Bounga and Nathan Ordaz scored for LAFC and Richard Sanchez scored for Club America. The Mexican-American Alenjandro Zendejas played well running up and down the field, kicking well-placed passes, and running down opponents and loose balls. He thanked the crowd in a post-game interview and sent well wishes to those affected by the recent wildfires. The exhibition game’s atmosphere resembled that of competitive playoff games I’ve covered because of the effort players on both teams demonstrated, including hard tackles and tussles, the constant chants, the colored smoke bombs, and the festivities before, during, and after the game.
Denis Bouanga
The 3252
Who are the fans? Thousands of LAFC fans are part of The 3252, an independent supporters union for the team composed of affiliate supporter groups. The 3252 named themselves from the number of seats at the north end of BMO Stadium. It is there that they create raucous every match and from where a lot of the night match’s energy reverberated from.
The south end of BMO Stadium was filled with members of La Monumental dressed in blue and yellow while waving streamers, flags, and banners. La Monumental is one of Club America’s support groups. They were loud, setting off yellow smoke bombs, and even fighting against themselves. During a time of increasing protests, I was conflicted when La Monumental disrupted both the American and Mexican national anthems before the game. I value both sports and protests as an American expression of liberty.
Protest is not alien to Club America’s owners Televisa. Televisa is a Mexican mass media company that has been accused by fans of unfairly influencing Mexican professional soccer and politics. Consequently, for some soccer is political. Let them protest!
LAFC continually promotes people and values that make me as a Chicano feel I belong at BMO Stadium. Before the game, they held a tribute honoring firemen and first responders who battled the recent local wildfires. Los Angeles Mexico Consul General Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez represented Mexico as part of the tribute for his work bringing Mexican firefighters to California to assist American firefighters. The tribute, a conversation I had with an LAFC employee from Puebla, and LAFC’s celebrations of Mexican culture reinforce that I and other Chicanos are welcomed at BMO Stadium.
