Marco Pappa and Gonzalo Pineda both have held the same experience that has made CenturyLink Field feel like home, even when it is thousands of miles from Guatemala and Mexico. Before matches, both first-year Sounders FC midfielders have looked to the stands and seen fans in jerseys from their home countries, bearing a strong contrast from the Rave Green of Seattle.
It’s a small thing, but it looms large in showing Pappa and Pineda that the Emerald City can be home no matter where you were raised. On Saturday, that relationship between players and fans will be celebrated with Hispanic Heritage match against Chivas USA.
“That’s priceless. You’re far from your country and the fans are thinking of you and bringing your jersey. It means a lot to me. It’s a special thing that they do that. It makes it feel like my own country and my own people,” Pineda said. “It helps a lot because I know they are supporting me. It’s great to know that Mexican people are supporting me. It makes it feel like home.”
While Pappa and Pineda have learned this year about how the Hispanic community has grown to embrace Sounders FC, Osvaldo Alonso and Leo Gonzalez have known since 2009 when both were part of the club in its inaugural MLS season.
All four have seen different paths that have taken them to Seattle, but they have all seen the same support from the Hispanic communities.
It is evident at CenturyLink Field as much as it is in the parks and community events where Seattle’s top Latin players have been staples since 2009. Getting out and meeting those fans has been instrumental in helping the players adapt to their new environments, knowing that other people in their neighborhoods have found friendly faces with similar experiences.
“It was hard for me at first. It’s a different culture and a different country. When I came to Seattle, the people connected with me and I’m very happy to be here,” Alonso said. “I try to be in the community with the Latin-American people. I’m very happy to be part of their community and Seattle.”
Seattle is a melting pot of different cultures from around the world and each player has found pockets representing Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala and Mexico, just as others found countrymen from Argentina and Colombia before them.
Large or small, those comforts of home have helped the players feel at ease off the field and helped them perform at their best on it, too.
It is also a trend that goes both ways. Fans in those countries have adopted Sounders FC as their own because their countrymen have excelled in Seattle.
“I can see some support from the Guatemalan people in the stadium. I always try to be nice to them and they’ve always been there supporting the Sounders,” Pappa said. “Because I’m Guatemalan, they support me a lot, too. But it’s not just in Seattle. In my country, they support the Sounders too.”
Since 2009, the Latin players have all gravitated toward each other and to the Hispanic fans in the stands. It has been a mutual admiration that has made the fans feel like they are a part of something, and the players have grown to call Seattle home because of that camaraderie.
“We are like a family,” Alonso smiled. “We all come here to do our best for the city. I’m very happy for the people around us that have embraced us as part of their community.”
