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The final day of the Jalisco Cup could not have been worse. The Ameca team never showed up, a cheerleader was injured by fireworks, and heavy rain dampened the May 31 celebrations of the champion, Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos.
The Ameca team never arrived at the La Arena Sports Field, fulfilling the promise made by the president of Ameca, who had announced her team would not attend due to alleged threats. So, after the first leg, played on May 24th in Ameca, which ended in a 1-1 draw, the absence of the visitors resulted in a 4-1 aggregate score in favor of Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos. The regulations mandated awarding the final match to the home team by a score of three goals.
Some of the attendees began to leave after learning that there would be no final game and that the home team was automatically declared champion. The ceremony to award the trophy to Ixtlahuacán began with problems setting up the podium for the new champions. Support staff for the cup, organized by the Jalisco State Council for Sports Development (CODE), were trying to erect an arch, but one problem after another plagued the crew..
In the end, a decorative arch was raised, but the central part wasn’t properly secured, leaving it dangling and prompting shouts from one of the organizers. Two hostesses with sponsor banners were then positioned to hold up the dangling section.
When Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos was officially crowned champion, columns of blue and yellow smoke rose into the air as part of the visual decorations. Some firecrackers were launched into the sky, but not all of them went upwards. Some of the pyrotechnics were launched horizontally across the field, with a loud bang that momentarily startled those present. One of the firecrackers hit a cheerleader in the stomach. She was on the field and left the area clutching the wound. She was then taken by ambulance to receive medical attention. She did not sustain serious injuries.
“In the end, it was a bit windy and rainy, things you don’t always expect with inclement weather, but I think in the end it was a very festive atmosphere and there were no incidents,” Fernando Ortega Ramos, director of CODE Jalisco, told Semanario Laguna after the awards ceremony.
Soccer celebrities Pavel Pardo, former national team player, and Matías Vuoso, former Atlas player, were present at the final. Fans asked them for souvenir photos, although by the end, the former players looked tired and no longer wanted to pose for pictures.
“Maikel” Medina, lead singer of the regional music group “Agua de la Llave,” was present at the venue, but only to take refuge under one of the few terraces, as after an intense wind that left the field shrouded in a sandstorm, a heavy rain arrived that Sunday.
The final was heavily secured. Riot police, municipal and private security personnel, the National Guard, and several State Police patrols, along with a conspicuous command center, a Tesla Cybertruck patrol vehicle, and even a bomb disposal robot valued at two million pesos, were all part of the operation.
The players from Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos won the championship but also the game, having earned the trophy but unable to win it by scoring goals due to the absence of their opponent.
Fernando Ortega Ramos, director of CODE Jalisco, described the decision by Ameca’s president, Martha Catalina Loza Castro, as a shame, saying it was a pity that the players didn’t show up and were denied the opportunity to compete for the prizes offered.
“Today’s prizes included tickets to a World Cup game, something historic, something many of us would love to have guaranteed, in addition to the trip to Madrid, which includes a game at the Santiago Bernabéu,” said the director of CODE Jalisco.
Translated and edited by Citlaly Silva
