I remember the first soccer game I ever watched. It was 1986 and I was ten years old, watching Mexico, my grandfather’s home country, compete in the men’s World Cup on a grainy television. I remember loving the way the green of Mexico’s team jerseys fused with the green grass beneath their feet, making it seem almost as if they were one with the field.

As the 21st men’s World Cup kicks off in Russia 30 years later, those memories are as clear as ever. I've lived most of my life in the United States, and normally I'd be rooting for both the U.S. and Mexico — regional rivals — to do well. Asking me to pick one over the other is an impossible task, although the fact that the U.S. men didn’t qualify this year has made my life a little easier.

I grew up in Ohio, fully embracing everything it meant to be American, even dutifully answering to an English name, not my own. But in 2018, being Latino in America means being constantly reminded of how the current administration views Latinos as an alien “other.” To listen to our president talk, our very existence threatens the "real" America, in ways both explicit and implicit. The president leverages the specter of gang violence as an existential threat, despite crime nearing all-time lows. Immigrant children are being warehoused in makeshift camps; torn from their parents by border agents, as their families commit the crime of seeking a better life.

In 2018, being Latino in America means being constantly reminded of how the current administration views Latinos as an alien “other.”

In times like these, sports can help countries and communities express a joyous defiance in the face of tragedy and terror. For me, supporting El Tri, as the Mexican national team is known, is a symbolic act of solidarity and protest. It’s a way for me, a Latino in Donald Trump's America, to embrace my heritage even as the state mobilizes to oppress my people. (Plus I get to watch some excellent soccer.)

On the other hand, rooting for Mexico — and other Latin American teams like Panama or Peru or Colombia — is a deeply American act. This is true for several reasons, most obviously because the United States is a nation of immigrants. But from a purely statistic standpoint, Mexico’s team is already incredibly popular in the U.S., as is Mexico's Liga MX. The numbers speak a plain truth. More than two million people tuned in to watch this spring's Liga MX final between Toluca and Santos; around 1.8 million watched Mexico play Wales in a friendly on May 28. Only the Champions' League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid drew a bigger television audience.