Some say it costs parents more money to develop their children as players in the United States because of the fees, for uniforms, leagues and referees, while Mexican clubs rarely ask for similar money upfront. Others say it actually costs more to get a talented player noticed in Mexico because there is still a prevalent culture of quid pro quo, in which coaches accept, or even solicit, money from players or their families in exchange for help in moving the player up the soccer ladder.

In places like El Paso, these sorts of dichotomies are constant. About 2.5 million people live in this region, and thousands cross the border every day for work or school, or to shop or see a doctor. “Home” may be on one side of the border, but family members often live on the other. Signs in stores are in English and Spanish. Conversations float between the two, and many Mexican-Americans speak with a crossover vocabulary.

Mexicans often refer to more extreme instances of this kind of Spanish as “pocho,” or inauthentic, and also use the term as a derogatory way to describe Americanized Mexicans who speak better English than Spanish. David Dorado Romo, an author and historian from El Paso, said the phrase “ni aquí ni allá” — neither here nor there — is a popular sentiment for residents of the border area, and it can inform every decision, including those about soccer.

“A lot of us feel that the border is an entirely different country — that we’re not accepted completely by Mexicanos, and in the U.S. it’s like an occupied country for us,” Romo said. “We feel like we’re from both sides. And that’s why a lot of people refuse to choose sides definitively when it comes to just about anything.”

A Training Ground

The duality is perpetual. Lalo Salgado, who was born in Mexico, lives in El Paso and commutes to work in Juárez. Salgado’s son, Omar, was a talented soccer player from a young age. Scouts from clubs on each side of the border identified his talent early on, and at 14 he left El Paso for Guadalajara, the home of Chivas, one of Mexico’s biggest clubs.