Pepi, Zendejas spark El Paso pride at US soccer watch party for World Cup
· Yahoo Sports
On some level, the 500 people at Cleveland Square in Downtown El Paso gathered to watch the USA take on Turkiye could have been sad.
El Paso heroes Ricardo Pepi and Alejandro Zendejas weren't able to find a magic moment, though there was an opportunity to cheer for Zendejas when he made his World Cup debut in the 77th minute of a 2-2 game.
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Then Turkiye found a winner at the death, the last touch of the game to win 3-2 and spoil the festive atmosphere at Cleveland Square. Except in the big picture the match didn't affect the US (they still won their group and play Bosnia and Herzegovina) and didn't seem to affect the good vibes coming out of Downtown El Paso.
This was the second outdoor watch party at Cleveland Square, coming a week after the watch party for Mexico-South Korea, and despite some dicey weather (a dust storm that looked like it was going to turn into a downpour) a half hour before that had organizers preparing for the possibility of a cancellation, rain held off long enough for a festive evening.
Most all of the jerseys in the crowd were for the USMNT, but only Marie Cruz and her husband Eder, who had their two children with them, were wearing Zendejas' No. 26.
"We're so proud, we're also from El Paso, he's also from El Paso," Marie said. "This is all fun, something different, new for the family and we're happy El Paso is doing something different as well."
Her husband Eder was happy to be in his Zendejas jersey.
"We're representing the USA to show support," he said. "We're really excited to get the representation out there and they are good players, too."
Perhaps the best example of the good vibes came from the only women in a Turkiye jersey, with the most un-Turkish of names: Caren Garcia. She was there with her mother Lourdes, and both are natives of El Paso. Lourdes, however, was in an USA shirt.
So why the Turkiye jersey for Caren?
"My mom is a big fan of Turkish telenovellas and I really love Turkish food, tea and the culture in general," Caren Garcia said. "We came out here to support the Turkish team."
Shortly after that Garcia was a raffle winner, which entailed going in front of 500 people in her Turkish jersey to collect tickets to the next door La Nube Museum and received a warm round of applause.
"This community has so much to offer," she said. "It's great to see us all come together and be one big family."
As for the match, the first round of cheers came when Pepi was announced in the starting lineup.
"It's amazing, I'm proud for (Pepi and Zendejas) to be from El Paso and Juárez and I hope they score, especially Pepi," said Oscar Martinez, who was one of the loudest to cheer Pepi. "It's been hot all week, this weather is nice. It's sprinkling a little bit, but I'll take it."
Other than Caren Garcia, one of the only other people in the crowd not wearing U.S. gear was Anabel Morales, in her Mexico jersey. She was there in support of her her husband Luis, wearing a U.S. jersey. They were in similar gear the week before in Cleveland Square when Luis was supporting Anabel cheering for Mexico.
"It's really nice being out here," he said. "This is fun to have something like this."
There is no guarantee there will be more, as showing the game on a big screen in a public place require permission from FIFA, but the city is going to try.
Prominent in the festivities was city councilman Chris Canales, who among many other things helped run the raffle.
"The Parks and Recreation Department at the city has been working so hard to put this event on and bring people out to be able to watch the games together, both the Mexico and the U.S.," Canales said.
"It takes a lot more work behind the scenes than one might think to get the rights from FIFA to show the game, so mega kudos to Parks and Recreation for putting this together.
"Fingers crossed that we can keep showing these. I want to take every step we need to to keep this going. If we can keep doing this, we'll definitely do it."
The matches will mean much more as they progress, but on this Thursday night, most people left happy despite the outcome.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at [email protected]; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Pepi, Zendejas spark El Paso pride at US soccer watch party for World Cup