We came for Ronaldinho, but found Tijuana

We came for Ronaldinho, but found Tijuana

We came for Ronaldinho, but found Tijuana
We came for Ronaldinho, but found Tijuana “ By Maxi Rodriguez and Zack Goldman
”
There’s a first time for everything, and this weekend, the AFR team took hopefully the first of many trips South of the Border.
With intentions to track Ronaldinho as he...
We came for Ronaldinho, but found Tijuana “ By Maxi Rodriguez and Zack Goldman
”
There’s a first time for everything, and this weekend, the AFR team took hopefully the first of many trips South of the Border.
With intentions to track Ronaldinho as he...
We came for Ronaldinho, but found Tijuana “ By Maxi Rodriguez and Zack Goldman
”
There’s a first time for everything, and this weekend, the AFR team took hopefully the first of many trips South of the Border.
With intentions to track Ronaldinho as he...
We came for Ronaldinho, but found Tijuana “ By Maxi Rodriguez and Zack Goldman
”
There’s a first time for everything, and this weekend, the AFR team took hopefully the first of many trips South of the Border.
With intentions to track Ronaldinho as he...
We came for Ronaldinho, but found Tijuana “ By Maxi Rodriguez and Zack Goldman
”
There’s a first time for everything, and this weekend, the AFR team took hopefully the first of many trips South of the Border.
With intentions to track Ronaldinho as he...
We came for Ronaldinho, but found Tijuana “ By Maxi Rodriguez and Zack Goldman
”
There’s a first time for everything, and this weekend, the AFR team took hopefully the first of many trips South of the Border.
With intentions to track Ronaldinho as he...

We came for Ronaldinho, but found Tijuana

By Maxi Rodriguez and Zack Goldman

There’s a first time for everything, and this weekend, the AFR team took hopefully the first of many trips South of the Border.

With intentions to track Ronaldinho as he suited up for Querétaro against Tijuana’s Xolos, it was a pilgrimage of sorts; an opportunity to see a legend in the flesh before he hangs up his boots.

But while Ronaldinho was the original focus of our journey, the city of Tijuana and its football club were its biggest stars.

Ask most people north of the border what they think of Tijuana, and you’ll be overwhelmed with less-than-informed talk of Mexico’s socio-political landscape, second-hand stories of the city’s dark underbelly, and warnings over the range of narco-inspired violence just miles from the U.S.

While these topics are worthy of a responsibly contextualized conversation, it goes without saying that the first thing any visitor to Tijuana learns is that Tijuana is, in many ways, much like any other city across the world. Sure, it shares many of Mexico’s present-day challenges, but it just as strongly speaks to its promising future — progress that can be seen in the city center and at the stadium.

Though Xolos have only been in existence since 2007, they have already won a Mexican league title and cultivated a vibrant and diverse fan base, built locally and across the border in soccer-starved San Diego, a metropolitan area of over three million people without a professional team to call their own.

The football club’s recent success and marketability has mirrored a parallel rise in the fortunes of its city, which has reinvented itself over the last decade and become a haven for foodies, artists, and, yes, football nuts like us.

We went to Mexico and saw Ronaldinho score; but, more importantly, we discovered a remarkable city with a one-of-a-kind sporting experience — and amazing goat tacos.

We’ll be back in a bit with a full breakdown of our travels, but in the meantime, consider a trip to Tijuana. You won’t regret it.