Sergio Tristan couldnt believe he was alone. His beloved Mexican national soccer team was about to face the United States in the final of the 2011 Gold Cup, the regional tournament that the two North American rivals have dominated over the last two decades. The Rose Bowl, in Pasadena, California, was split almost evenly between Mexican and American fans. But in the Austin, Texas, bar where Tristan had chosen to watch, he was the only fan wearing Mexicos traditional green jersey. The American Outlaws, the main organization of U.S. supporters, had taken over the bar.

It was all U.S. soccer fans, Tristan said. I thought, We could do this for Mexico fans, too.

So a little over a year later, as Mexicos qualifying campaign for the 2014 World Cup began, Tristan launched a Facebook group to connect Mexico fans who lived in the United States.

Five years later, as the 2018 World Cup begins, Pancho Villas Army has chapters in 32 American cities, and more than 5,000 official members. The group has roughly 80,000 followers across social media, and it organizes regular watch parties and trips to Mexican national team matches.

Despite what you may have read, the United States does have a team playing in the World Cup. That would be Mexico. And Pancho Villas Army, of which Tristan styles himself el general, is an index of Team Mexicos popularity hereabouts.

There are an estimated 36 million people of Mexican descent in the United States, and many of them are, like Tristan, Mexican Americans who were born here but chose to root for El Tri, as the Mexican team is colloquially known in reference to the tricolor flag, instead of the United States.

For Tristan, a first-generation Mexican American, tying his allegiance to Mexico was an easy choice. The concept of U.S. soccer barely existed when he was growing up in Texas in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Americans failed to qualify for every World Cup played between 1954 and 1986, and there was no U.S.-based professional soccer league.

People forget that for many of us first-generation, second-generation kids born in the 80s or 90s, there was no U.S. national team that we could see until 1994, Tristan said, referencing the year the U.S. hosted the World Cup. In our communities, thats all we consumed: Mexican soccer and the Mexican national team.

Whenever Mexico comes to the U.S. for a game, for six hours its a celebration of our identity and our culture. We use it as a vehicle to express ourselves in Spanish, to maintain that connection to where our parents came from. Every couple months we get to come together and celebrate that identity and what brings us together. Thats the team we grew up with, and its the team well pass down to our kids.

Gabriela Hernandez, a first-generation Mexican American who now lives in Tampa, had never heard of Pancho Villas Army before this week. But her reasons for cheering for Mexico are similar: Her stepfather played soccer in Mexico, and nearly made it to the national team before retiring. El Tri is her link back to Mexico.

I dont really visit Mexico all that often. I see my family at Christmas and talk to them for the annual birthday phone call, she said. But Im proud of my heritage, and cheering for Mexico gives me something to hang onto.

Thats true for millions of other immigrants and expats from other countries who call the U.S. home, too. But no country has cultivated and expanded its fan base in the United States like Mexico, which has played more than 60 friendly matches north of the border since 2008, in addition to the competitive matches it plays on American soil during Gold Cup and World Cup qualifying. This year, as El Tri tuned up for the World Cup, it played four friendlies in the U.S. two each in California and Texas before Mexicos first actual home match.

Those matches routinely draw larger numbers of fans than even the U.S. Mens National Team can muster for similar friendlies: Mexico drew an average of more than 80,000 fans over its final two World Cup tune-ups in the U.S., and its matches against the U.S. be they friendlies or competitive matches often attract huge numbers of Mexican fans.

The Mexican Football Federation has marketing and sponsorship deals with American firms and corporations, and broadcast agreements with U.S. television networks. If you combine Spanish- and English-language broadcasts, El Tri typically draws larger TV audiences in the United States than its American counterparts. Before the World Cup, the Mexican federation launched English-language Twitter and Facebook accounts to continue catering to Mexican-American fans.

Those efforts have further fueled the regions hottest soccer rivalry, which began in earnest when the United States knocked Mexico out of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea. The 2-0 victory sparked the American adoption of Dos A Cero or Two To Zero as a taunting chant aimed at Mexico fans. Hearing those chants in the bar helped inspire Tristan to finally launch Pancho Villas Army in 2013.