Commentary: Mexico lost in the World Cup but Mexican Americans won

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Set us as preferred Mexico lost to England 3-2 in the World Cup Sunday night, yet thousands of Mexican Americans across Southern California took to the streets as if their team had triumphed.El Tri was eliminated from the tournament in another heartbreaker, but fans set off fireworks, joyously rocked cars and were tossed in the air from Orange County to the Inland Empire to Ventura County and all points in between, just as if we had won the damn thing.It was yet another early exit for a team that has never even made it to the World Cup semifinals — but no wanted to dwell on defeat, because no one felt defeated.Soccer Mexico players and coaches were disappointed they could not give thousands of fans a win, instead falling 3-2 in a spirited match at rowdy Azteca Stadium.“We didn’t lose,” 29-year-old Kevin Cuevas said through watery eyes.

We were at Chapter One: The Modern Local in downtown Santa Ana, minutes after the final whistle.“We have the best culture, the best men, the best women, the best work ethic, the best team — you name it, we have.”I reminded the Corona resident of the final score.“Yes, but we’re moving up,” Cuevas replied, clutching a Mexican flag emblazoned with St.

Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of lost causes.“We’re always moving up, never down.

There’s no other way to live.”It’s one of the great clichés of Mexican culture — how our parties always end in tears and worse.“There is nothing so joyous as a Mexican fiesta, but there is also nothing so sorrowful,” Nobel laureate Octavio Paz infamously wrote in “The Labyrinth of Solitude,” his 1950 treatise on the Mexican condition.

“Fiesta night is also a night of mourning.”Paz was criticizing Mexicans for not knowing how to properly process pain and pretending all is well even when it’s not — especially when it’...