When South Africa lined up against Mexico, something strange happened.
Across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and even countries that probably couldn’t point to Mexico on a map five minutes earlier, people suddenly became die-hard Mexican supporters.
Overnight, everybody became a student of Mexican football.
People were shouting “Vamos!” with the confidence of someone whose grandmother was born speaking fluent spanish.
Mexico scored?
Timeline erupted.
South Africa conceded?
The celebrations were louder than they should have been.
Now, was this really about football?
Let’s not lie to ourselves.
The Enemy Of My Enemy Is Apparently My National Team
The average Nigerian does not wake up thinking about Mexico.
We don’t eat tacos every morning. We don’t know the names of their local league players. We can’t sing their national anthem.
Yet somehow, on match day, Mexico became our blood brothers.
Why?
Because football fans are petty.
But beyond the pettiness was something deeper.
For many Africans, supporting Mexico wasn’t necessarily about loving Mexico. It was about expressing frustration towards South Africa’s repeated xenophobic attacks on fellow Africans.
You can’t spend years making headlines for attacking fellow Africans and then expect those same people to suddenly become your twelfth man when football starts.
Life doesn’t work like that.
Xenophobia Is A Very Strange Flex
What has always confused me about xenophobia in South Africa is how ironic it feels.
This is a country whose history is defined by apartheid.
A country that knows what discrimination feels like.
A country that experienced decades of oppression based on race.
Yet somehow, some people looked at that history and said:
“You know what? Let’s make life difficult for other Africans.”
How?
Why?
Who approved this?
It’s like surviving secondary school bullying only to become the school’s biggest bully after graduation.
Surely the lesson should have been empathy.
Nigerians Never Forget
One thing about Nigerians is that we have selective memory.
We can forget gbese.
Also forget who borrowed our stuff.
Even forget that money you owe us.
But once you attack Nigerians repeatedly, we suddenly develop photographic memory.
Every xenophobic incident becomes bookmarked in our brains.
Years later, football comes around and we’re still keeping receipts.
So when South Africa was playing, many Nigerians weren’t watching football.
They were participating in emotional restitution.
Every Mexican attack felt personal.
Every South African mistake was celebrated like a national holiday.
Petty?
Absolutely.
Understandable?
Also yes.
Football Is The Most Honest Social Media Poll
The funny thing about football is that it exposes public sentiment.
People may not write essays about international relations.
They may not attend conferences on African unity.
But give them ninety minutes of football and they’ll tell you exactly how they feel.
The support for Mexico wasn’t necessarily about tactics, formations, or squad depth.
It was about accumulated frustration.
Football simply became the outlet.
That’s why social media looked like Mexico had suddenly become an honorary African country.
For one evening, Mexico was collecting solidarity they didn’t even ask for. E shock dem
Africa Deserves Better Than This
Jokes aside, there is something sad underneath all this humor.
African countries talks endlessly about unity.
We speak about Pan-Africanism.
We celebrate African culture.
We tell ourselves that we are stronger together.
Yet every few years, xenophobic attacks remind us that those ideals still have a long way to go.
The reality is that many Africans leave their home countries searching for opportunities, safety, and better lives.
The Nigerian in Johannesburg, the Zimbabwean in Cape Town, the Congolese trader, the Ghanaian entrepreneur; they are not enemies.
They’re people trying to survive.
The same way South Africans migrate abroad, other Africans move too.
That should not be grounds for violence.
The Real Match Was Never South Africa Vs Mexico
Looking back, the funniest thing about the entire situation is that South Africa wasn’t really playing Mexico.
Not in the eyes of many Africans.
The real match was between memory and football.
And memory won comfortably.
Because people don’t easily forget how they’ve been treated.
Football gave Africans an opportunity to express years of frustration through harmless banter and support for the opposing team.
But perhaps the bigger lesson is this:
If Africa truly wants unity, it cannot only exist during AFCON tournaments and motivational speeches.
It has to exist in our streets, our communities, and how we treat one another.
Until then, South Africa may continue discovering that when they play international football, some Africans aren’t just watching the match.
They’re remembering.
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