First-gen Latinos took their parents to the World Cup to fulfill their childhood dreams

Growing up, Andy Sarias remembers bonding with his dad over soccer — if he wasn’t playing the sport with his dad cheering at the sidelines, they were staying up late rooting for El Tri — so it was a special moment when Sarias got to take his father to his first World Cup game, which was the Mexico vs South Africa game in Mexico City in mid-June.

Sarias, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, was filled with emotion before the game even started as he watched his father sing Mexico’s national anthem among the 80,000 fans in Estadio Azteca, where his father hadn’t been since he was a child growing up in Mexico City. They had stayed up all night so Sarias’s father could teach his 13-year-old grandson, Sarias’s son, the national anthem. The game ended with every person in the stadium cheering and throwing hats to celebrate El Tri’s momentous victory on a day they'd never forget.

“We've been cheering for Mexico in the World Cup since I can remember,” Sarias said. “My dad's the biggest Mexico fan. It was a full circle moment. It was indescribable.”

“He's not an emotional guy or anything like that, but he cracked the smile, so it was worth it,” Sarias added.

As the last month of World Cup games and festivities has been energizing the Latino community in Los Angeles and around the country, it especially hit home for families who grew up watching the sport together. It holds significance for the children who were introduced to and bonded over the sport with their parents, some of whom are from the country they root for. Now grown, some of those children have been taking their parents to the World Cup to fulfill their childhood dreams and nourish their inner child.

Similarly, Jenn Torres grew up watching the Mexico soccer games with her dad, so when she got tickets to the World Cup, she knew she wanted him to be her plus one. While he worked a lot while she was growing up, watching soccer on the weekends was how they connected. She called him at work one day to tell him they would be going to a World Cup game, something he always dreamed of. 

“He was just like, 'Oh my god, Mija, I'm so excited,’” Torres recalled.

Torres said that she felt like soccer was the equivalent of therapy to her father. 

“I go to therapy, or have hobbies, I’m able to do all these things to decompress and rest,” Torres said. “Growing up I would just see my dad watch soccer.”

While the game started in the afternoon, Torres said her dad woke up at six in the morning in excitement. They arrived at the stadium early to take pictures with the installations, explore the stadium, get snacks and walk the distance to the gate where their seats were at. Although they went to the Iran vs Belgium game, they proudly wore their Mexico jerseys. They soaked up the camaraderie and love they felt emanating from the stadium.

Torres said that seeing her dad so excited and overjoyed meant everything to her, especially since she always saw him working so hard. While her dad never liked to take pictures or videos, he would frequently ask her to take pictures of him there.

“You could see his inner child,” Torres said. “When I think of my dad, I think of him as very serious, very hard working, always working. This guy doesn't know what a break is, so it was really nice to see him just kind of let loose and relax and enjoy the game.”

Likewise, Gustavo Garay-Ramirez grew up in Mexico with his dad living in the United States and sending money home to him. Even when Garay-Ramirez joined him in Los Angeles when he got older, he remembered his dad always working. Still, they made time to watch soccer together all the time. They never missed a World Cup game on television.

“I feel like as immigrants, that's one thing that happens, you just constantly work for the family,” Garay-Ramirez said. “When the World Cup was announced in Los Angeles, I thought that was a good opportunity to take him from something we watched on the TV to actually being there.”

Garay-Ramirez knew that the World Cup game would be a special moment for his father and him, so he wanted to surprise him with tickets to build the anticipation. One day when Garay-Ramirez was watching a World Cup game on television with his father as usual, he handed his father printed out copies of the tickets to the Spain vs Austria game.

“He was in a little disbelief, but he was happy; he was just reading it and taking it in, and afterwards, he hugged me,” Garay-Ramirez said. “We never imagined ourselves being at a World Cup."

At the game, he said his father kept saying, “Gracias, mijo.” Garay-Ramirez said hearing that made him happy.

Going into the World Cup game, Garay-Ramirez felt nervous because he had heard about a continuation of reports that ICE was taking people out of their communities and detaining them. Even though he is a DACA recipient, he was worried because he had seen other people with the status be detained anyway. But he didn’t want that to ruin his moment with his dad.

“I didn't let it stop us from attending and enjoying ourselves, creating memories together,” Garay-Ramirez said.