Chiquilladas celebrated an 11th Liga Mexicana title with children and family members after beating Colima 5-2 on Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022.
Four players from La Liga Mexicana team Mexicanos celebrate with trophies in the 90's.
Joseph Fruit, who played in the packaging league and La Liga Mexicana pose for a photo.
Chiquilladas celebrated an 11th Liga Mexicana title with children and family members after beating Colima 5-2 on Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022.
It got quiet for a moment.
It was the second half of La Liga Mexicana de Futbol de Yakima’s 1st Division Finals. Hundreds of spectators were wrapped around the field at Sozo Sports Complex, seated beneath canopies, perched on white folding chairs and leaning against chain link fences. Hands shaded eyes and eyes followed the ball as it skipped along the turf field.
Colima, playing in the final for the first time in eight years, had just drawn level. The team’s grey-shirted players celebrated a clever free kick that had been driven in at the near post.
Chiquilladas, dressed in blue, were playing for their 11th championship in 15 years. Both sides had opened the game with screamers — long shots which had drawn cheers, oohs and ahs from the crowd. Both sides had tied the game with set piece goals.
Chiquilladas would ultimately slice through the tie, running away with a 5-2 victory.
The final whistle ended a day full of soccer. Liga Mexicana de Fútbol de Yakima, or Liga Mexicana, had finished a five-month season with two finals on Sunday. Veteranos Mexicanos beat Veteranos 4-1 in the 2nd Division Final.
All four finalists gathered after the game, collecting medals and shaking hands. Chiquilladas players danced, chanted and lifted their trophy high into the blue sky. Players hoisted their children into the air and the party moved to the goal, where the team posed for a photo filled with children and family members.
Nino Cardenas walked toward the sideline, shaking hands and sharing smiles. Cardenas has been playing and managing with Chiquilladas since the team formed in 2005.
Why had he stayed involved through the years?
“Just these boys, we keep the team going.” he said. “This is more like a family thing.”
Four players from La Liga Mexicana team Mexicanos celebrate with trophies in the 90's.
Cardenas’ attitude was one felt around the field on that Sunday afternoon.
“It’s about having fun and having a place for the kids and adults to play,” said the league’s president, Hector Vega. “But, more than anything, it’s family oriented.”
La Liga Mexicana has been in operation since 1980. Those 42 years of soccer in Yakima have been sustained by the love of the game and a family friendly atmosphere.
Eric Quezada is the league’s vice president. Before that, he helped organized Colima. He said he’s seen parents retire and children grow up and step into the team.
There’s a strong sense of history in La Liga Mexicana, which has been around longer than Major League Soccer, the top professional league in the U.S. and Canada.
Wilber Bishop, who played in the league from 1992 to 2008, attended the final. In between recording videos of the big plays, he adds a bit of commentary about each player. He remembers when some of the veterans on the field were just starting out.
Cardenas, who grew up in Yakima, remembers watching games as a kid. It’s part of the reason he and his teammates chose to come to the league more than a decade ago.
“It was exciting back in the days,” he said. “The fields would be surrounded by fans.”
Joseph Fruit, who played in the packaging league and La Liga Mexicana pose for a photo.
The consensus from many of the league’s veterans is that La Liga Mexicana was huge during the 1980s and 90s.
Vega said that when La Liga Mexicana first kicked off at Elks Park, it was the only show in the whole Yakima Valley.
“We played only on Sundays. We start at 10 in the morning to 6 o’clock (at night),” Vega said. “We had teams from Cowiche, from Mattawa, from Grandview, from Sunnyside. We would go back and forth, playing at their place too.”
Hispanic families would spend all day barbecuing and playing soccer, Vega said. Now, soccer leagues are more common across Yakima County. When La Liga Mexicana first started, though, he said that the best players in the Valley would be at Elks, and later Chesterly, Park every Sunday.
Bishop, who started playing in the league when he was a sophomore in high school, remembers the people he played with for the lifelong friendships and skills. He still swears Danny Huerta, one of his first teammates, was the best player the Yakima Valley has ever seen.
The games were massive, throngs of fans would gather around the field.
“We would have hundreds of people just to watch a regular league match,” Bishop said. “They were huge. It was just so exciting.”
Vega said finals would be played at local parks or at stadiums like Marquette or Highland High School. Crowds would be five or six people deep on the sideline. If games went into a penalty shootout, fans would walk onto the pitch and surround the 18-yard box.
“The Hispanic community looked forward to those Sundays to play the game of soccer,” Vega said. “There were people around the field — 500 or 600 people — watching the game. Good memories, really good memories.”
La Liga Mexicana is still robust and competitive. This year, La Liga Mexicana hosted eight teams in its 1st Division and eight in its 2nd Division. Teams played more than 30 games on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at Sozo Sports Complex.
The league, which is the oldest in the Yakima Valley, is well established. Vega said coaches and teams often take care of themselves, recruiting their own players and returning year after year. The 2nd Division tends to be made up of veteran players but is open to anyone. The 1st Division teams are full of collegiate players who learned their craft in the Yakima Valley.
Vega manages the local semi-pro team Yakima United, which plays in the statewide EPLWA. He said that many players from that team are also spread through La Liga Mexicana’s top teams.
“We have players, they play DII, DI, it just depends on how good you are. When they come home, they have a place to play,” he said. “All of those kids play. Everybody that plays in Yakima United also plays in Liga Mexicana. They’re connected.“
In the end, though people stay involved because it’s a good time.
Quezada, when asked why he has been involved for so long, simply shrugs.
“I just like the sport,” he said. “We’re just here for fun.”
“The game of soccer is beautiful because anybody can play,” Vega said. “You don’t have to be so tall, you don’t have to be so thin. Anybody can play.”
Jasper Kenzo Sundeen’s reporting for the Yakima Herald-Republic is possible with support from Report for America and community members through the Yakima Valley Community Fund. For information on republishing, email news@yakimaherald.com.
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