Claudio Suarez, now captain of Chivas USA, is nearing the end of a long soccer career. But he remembers vividly his debut as a young player with Mexico's celebrated Chivas de Guadalajara club in 1996. He left the stadium thinking the worst part was the final score, a 2-0 loss to Toros Neza.
It wasn't.
Rabid fans of Chivas, loving called "El Rebano Sagrado" (the sacred flock) or the Goats, were expecting to see more from Suarez, and they hurled every possible insult in his direction. "Why don't you go back to where you came from," Suarez remembers one fan screaming at him.
Suarez knew Chivas fans were demanding, but was unprepared for this reception. He'd signed with Chivas because it's one of the oldest, most successful and popular soccer clubs in Mexico, but after his first game he had second thoughts.
"At that point, I was doubting a little bit having gone there. I was like, 'I don't think things are going to turn out good,' " said Suarez, who now laughs about the situation.
Suarez played with Chivas for four seasons, and helped the team win the league championship in 1997. The fans' reaction after the championship game was much different than his debut.
"They began to party right on the streets," Suarez said. Team officials "told us that the fans wanted to see us and that a parade was going to start soon."
So moments after the game, Chivas players got on an old fire truck and drove around the streets of Guadalajara.
Playing for Chivas comes with great responsibility, Suarez said, and with that comes great adulation or fierce criticism. "It's not easy to play for this club," he said.
Chivas, along with Club America, are the most popular soccer teams in Mexico. No matter where Goats' fans live, they seem to carry their affinity for their old team, and Southern California probably has more Goats fans than anywhere else in the country.
"We know that in the United States we have many fans that came [here] to start a better life for themselves," said Chivas defender Jonny Magallon. "And they are just waiting for us to come over here to see us play."
Last year a pro-Chivas crowd of 92,650 jammed into the Coliseum to see "El Rebano Sagrado" play Barcelona. Organizers are not expecting as many people for tonight's Chivas-Galaxy game, but the fans will be just as rabid.
On Sunday, Chivas' official local supporter club, Legion 1908 -- founded in 1999 -- spent the day at the Home Depot Center finishing up an 81-foot by 147-foot long flag it will unveil during the SuperLiga game.
