Joel Aceves and I were born and raised in Los Angeles. Both of us are sons of Latin American immigrants.
But on Wednesday, we'll be on opposite sides of a rivalry that divides a big chunk of Southern California between supporters of the green, white and red, and supporters of the red, white and blue.
It's the biggest L.A. sports obsession you've never heard of -- unless you tune in to Spanish-language media, or follow that strange game in which men in shorts kick around a ball for 90 minutes.
The current rivalry between the national soccer teams of the United States and Mexico was born in Los Angeles, on a July night in 1991. Now the two teams can't play each other here anymore because crowds got too big, and the fans too passionate.
"I don't hate you or your team," Joel told me as we talked in his home in South-Central. "But I'm still angry that we lost to you in 2002. I'll never get over that."
When we were both younger men, we traveled across Los Angeles to see our teams play.
Joel, now 32, walked across South Los Angeles to see his heroes, la seleccion de Mexico, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. I drove to the same stadium from South Whittier to watch my heroes, the national team of the United States of America.
When the two teams take to the field Wednesday night, in a qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup, it will be in the cold of Columbus, Ohio, in a 22,500-seat stadium more appropriate for a high-school football game.
Much of L.A. will be there in spirit. Some, like Angel Soto, will be there in person. The son of Guatemalan immigrants and a resident of Rancho Cucamonga, Soto, 18, likely will have to brave some very un-Californian freezing temperatures.
"I've got four U.S. jerseys," Angel told me. "And I'm going to be wearing all four of them at the game."
The match could have been played, as it once was, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum or the Rose Bowl -- before 90,000 or so people like me, Joel and Angel willing to pay exorbitant prices even for nosebleed tickets.
It won't be, because the United States Soccer Federation, which manages the U.S. National Team, long ago concluded that Mexico fans would outnumber U.S. fans at any venue in greater Los Angeles. Or, for that matter, anywhere else in California, or in the Southwest or even in New York or Chicago.
