All posts by chivacongelado

en español, in english

Balance of the summer for Mexican football

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The summer is over, and so are the different national team tournaments.  The overall balance I would say is overwhelmingly positive, but there are definitely some things that should be improved, specially with regards to planning.

In June, the A squad beat every team in its path towards the continental trophy quite decisively and took the Gold Cup, qualifying to the Confederations Cup in 2013.

Also in June, the national team played the Women’s World Cup, qualifying for the first time in more than ten years and winning it’s first couple of points, but bowed out after the group stage.

In July, a horribly patched up C or D team (8 U20 players, 11 U22 players and 5 senior players not part of the original Gold Cup squad) played the Copa América as guests and finished dead last. Ouch.

Also in July, the U17 Tri hosted and won the WC for their category.  Beating Germany in the semis with an overhead kick by an injured player and playing the final in front of 100,000 delirious fans at Azteca Stadium was surely unforgettable for everyone.

Finally, the U20s reached a honourable 3rd place in the WC for their age group in Colombia, knocking out the hosts and beating les Bleus for bronze.

The cherry in the cake for me was Chivas beating Barcelona in a friendly (and currently leading the standings in the Mexican league after 6 games). 🙂

As said, overall the balance is positive with 2 golds and 1 bronze out of 5 tournaments.  However in the case of the Copa América a lot could have been done to either negotiate participation with the A team or not attending at all (even after removing players for a scandal just before the tournament).  If the players and the teams are improving so should the federation.

en español

José José o la banda sonora de los fracasados

El buen Erich Martino en una conversación apuntó cómo los cantantes que son famosos en determinado país  reflejan su cultura usando como ejemplo a José José y David Bowie, dos cantantes de México y Reino Unido que aunque estén a años luz de distancia en género son de la misma edad y empezaron a ser populares casi al mismo tiempo.

A mí desde chico no me gustaban mucho las rolas del Príncipe de la Canción y no entendía por qué hasta que me puse a analizar las letras: ¡son absolutamente deprimentes!

Hoy quiero saborear mi dolor
No pido compasión ni piedad
-El Triste

Y es verdad soy un payaso,
pero qué le voy a hacer,
uno no es lo que quiere,
sino lo que puede ser.
-Payaso

Ahora comparémoslas con uno de los trancazos de Bowie (del cual tampoco soy gran fan, pero simplemente porque no me gusta tanto el glam):

There’s a Starman waiting in the sky
he’s told us not to blow it
’cause he knows it’s all worthwile.
-Starman

Alguien por favor dígame que no somos una cultura que venera al fracaso más que al éxito.  Eso es lo que hay que cambiar.

in english

Jyväskylä & Lahti, Finland

Spent a long weekend right after Mexico in Jyväskylä and Lahti for Rally Finland.  Some of my best pictures and videos below (the rest are found here).

Nokia at WRC
You can follow live every WRC race straight from your Nokia device.
Lahti
Lake in downtown Lahti

Driving to Jyväskylä
Driving back to Jyväskylä

Abandoned mökki
Abandoned cabin in Urria
Closing ceremony
Awards ceremony. Loeb won again.

Overall it was a very nice experience and now I understand why it is one of the iconic races in the WRC calendar.  The only sad part was a small run in with a drunk racist jerk after I had briefly met MP Hakkarainen in my last night in town (“Smile and wave, smile and wave”). And people ask me why I tend to avoid the cities between Tampere and Lapland… 😉

in english

Mexico, summer 2011

We spent 2 excellent weeks in Mexico visiting my family.  With the new member of the family in tow we didn’t do a lot of tourism so I do not have that many “publishable” pictures this time, but below you can find some.

The rest, as usual, in the set.

Jícamas, 3 kinds of mangoes, prickly pears, mameyes, guavas
Lots of fruits you cannot find in Finland: jícamas, 3 kinds of mangoes, prickly pears, mameyes, guavas
Mole de olla
My mom's wonderful mole de olla. I've had it in restaurants and it isn't nearly as good.
México, U-17 World Champion
Mexico won the U-17 world football championship while we were there and the whole country celebrated.
Tuna / Prickly pear
How to peel a prickly pear. Stuff that grows wild in Mexico costs 7€/kilo here and doesn't taste as good.
Pancita
Pancita, cow's stomach soup. Might sound disgusting, but it's great for hangovers.
Mexican breakfast
A healthy hotel Mexican breakfast. No wonder we can stand without having lunch until 3 or 4 p.m. after one of these.
Beach in Ixtapa
Beach in Ixtapa, Guerrero, in the Pacific coast.
View from my hotel room
View from our hotel room in Ixtapa

in english

Recommended movie: El Infierno (Hell)


This is a very well-made dark, sarcastic allegory of the security situation in northern Mexico.  Imagine Scarface and Herod’s law having a child while listening to narcocorridos.  Not for the faint of heart, and definitely not for anyone under 15 years old.  I bought the DVD recently, but if you happen to come across it in a film festival or on TV don’t miss it.  Definitely the Mexican hit of 2010.

en español

La ciudad (y el país) siguen creciendo

Mexico City landscape

Con todo y las terribles noticias que recibimos en materia de seguridad día a día, la economía mexicana sigue creciendo (un3.5% el año pasado).  Hay signos de eso donde quiera que lo vea uno: obra pública (seguramente con fines electorales, pero aún así una inversión en infraestructura), centros comerciales llenos y un sector turístico en crecimiento gracias a la demanda nacional y extranjera.

El país podría desarrollarse mucho más si se pasara la reforma económica y se aliviara la situación de seguridad, pero el punto es que con aún con los encabezados que lee uno a diario, el país sin embargo se mueve.

en español

Finlandia Disneylandia

Aku Ankka
No sé qué sea peor, que a los mexicanos en el extranjero automáticamente les pongan bigote y sombrero, o que a los finlandeses en el extranjero no les entiendan ni de dónde son.  Me había tocado que confundieran a Finlandia con Irlanda, Tailandia o Filipinas, pero el premio se lo lleva una dependienta en una tienda en Ixtapa que confundió al país donde vivo con Disneylandia. O_o

Obviamente semejante “lapsus” combinado con mi natural simpleza ha creado un sinnúmero de situaciones imaginarias cuyas dotes cómicas dependerán en gran medida del estado de la audiencia: