A Burrito Joint Just Beat an MLS Team. No, Really.
Why El Farolito’s shocking upset is so much more than a fun story.
This is the weekend of underdogs, of bracket busters, of overnight sensations, scrappy coaches, and brand-new media darlings. March is, indeed, made for Madness. But the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball brackets aren’t the only knockout tournaments that upend all we know about Davids and Goliaths; this week also marked the start of another tournament, the national soccer competition known as the US Open Cup. Modeled after the FA Cup in England, it’s an opportunity for any professional or semi-professional team to face each other.
Which means that, if the draw is right, you just might find a beloved San Francisco burrito joint fielding a team to go against the MLS’ Portland Timbers.
And what if I told you that the burrito team won?
It’s one of the most delightful results in American sports in some time, at once thrilling and silly and full of wonder. It’s a win for the little guys, yes. But given the context of the past year, it’s also proof that the highest ideals of sport still stand strong: that everyone has equal opportunity, that competition should be open and free, and that the ball does not, in fact, lie.
We’ll talk about the game in a moment. But before you can understand what it means, you need to understand the state of soccer in America today. In every other country in the world, professional soccer is built on a system of promotion and relegation. The best teams rise up with competition; the losers fall into more and more obscure leagues. It’s this type of unlimited potential that has captured imaginations with stories like Wrexham’s or Luton Town’s.
But America’s soccer pyramid isn’t set up that way. Major League Soccer, founded in 1996, is a closed league. Teams that are in the league stay in the league, because that way, billionaire owners will know that their investments are secure, no matter how poorly they manage their assets. The U.S. Open Cup, for years, was the only chance for small clubs that capture the grassroots support of their communities (like Vermont Green FC, which has been featured here before) can have a shot at the big boys. The tournament has been a fixture of American soccer culture literally for a century; this year is its 110th annual incarnation. In the early days, teams were dominated by ethnic clubs: the the Brooklyn Italians, the Philadelphia Ukrainians, the Milwaukee Bavarians.
Since its founding, the MLS has never been particularly fond of this system, but last year, some of its biggest clubs found themselves humiliated when minor-league side Sacramento Republic FC beat Sporting Kansas City, the LA Galaxy, and the San José Earthquakes en-route to a berth in the finals. Maybe that was the final straw. Whatever the reason, just a few months before the start of this year’s tournament, MLS commissioner Don Garber announced that his league’s clubs would not participate in the US Open Cup any longer.
The US Soccer Federation fought back, threatening that if the league pulled out, they’d strip the MLS of its protected status as the top-flight league in America. Negotiations ensued, and out of those backrooms came a shaky compromise. Only eight first-team MLS sides would compete, about a dozen other franchises would send their youth teams, and the rest wouldn’t participate at all. Clubs like Manchester United, FC Barcelona, and Bayern Munich have always played in their domestic cups, but Lord forbid St. Louis SC, a club that has all of a single season of history to its name, compete in theirs.
Which brings us to this week’s game: El Farolito vs. Portland Timbers. In 1985, two years after opening his Mission St. burrito joint in San Francisco, the owner of El Farolito, Salvador Lopez, created a soccer team to play in a local league. It was basically a rec-league side, known mainly for featuring particularly old players. In 1993, El Farolito won the U.S. Open Cup, and to get an idea of just how much American soccer has changed in the last 30 years, the team they defeated in the finals was called, “United German Hungarians of Philadelphia and Vicinity.”
Now, in this newer, professional era, the club is run by Salvador’s son, Santiago, who is also the general manager of the restaurant’s dozen locations in the Bay Area. The roster consists of construction workers, Uber drivers, and day laborers. They’re as old as 36 and as young as 18. Half are American, and the other half hail from throughout Latin America and as far away as the Ivory Coast. “We can only train twice a week, 8 to 9:30 p.m., in different fields all over the city, because that is when everyone is done with work,” said Santiago told Mission Local.
They play in the National Premier Soccer League, which barely registers on the American soccer pyramid. But after a strong showing last year, they earned a berth in the U.S. Open Cup. Bouncing around the city’s parks, they got ready for their chance: round one would come on the road at Providence Park against the Portland Timbers, one of the MLS’ most storied clubs. The Timbers, though, refused to send their senior squad; they competed with their developmental youth team.
The Timbers reserves took the lead early, but in the second half, off set-pieces, El Farolito stole back the lead. When the final whistle blew, the score was 2-1 El Farolito. The little guy had done it.
“Some have called us the ‘Burritos Team,’ and some may find that offensive,” the coach, Santiago, said after the match. “But for us it is amazing to be connected to a burrito spot… that in the Mission is known through food, low prices, fair portions, and opening late for people.”
Their next match will come in early April, determined via a draw to come later this week. Farolito has a shot to host the second-round match. If they do, they’ll play at their home stadium: the public Balboa Park.
This weekend, when you’re watching the basketball, you’ll see a sport that has been turned upside down. Super conferences have been formed to create mini-empires fueled by billions in TV money. Teams like UCLA will soon share a conference with Rutgers…for some reason. Athletic directors like Troy Dannen sit in front of cameras and declare, “This is going to be my last job,” before grumbling about unloyal coaches and players, only to bolt for a different opening himself just six months later. Sports have become a business, they say, and that’s true. Why celebrate the randomness when you can guarantee the profits?
But then, in the very first game of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament, you see a school named Duquesne discover that the glass slipper fits, and the country is introduced to a new Cinderella. You see the passion of a folk hero like Caitlin Clark, who has turned Iowa City into the center of the basketball universe. You see a burrito joint beating a professional team on the soccer pitch.
You see all of that, and you can’t help but think that no matter how hard they try, maybe, just maybe, it’s impossible to take away the magic.
💛 You’ll notice that so much of the deeply considered, emotional work that we—and others in this space—create centers around athletes in the twilight of their careers. To let you in on a little secret: that’s because it’s ridiculously hard to do this kind of thing with young athletes. It’s not that their greatness is any less, but that their perspective and experiences are still budding. That’s one of the many reasons I found myself in awe of Wright Thompson’s latest profile for ESPN about Iowa’s Caitlin Clark. He tackles a subject with youth and the whole world ahead of her. In the process, he tells a story about a singular talent—but also anyone who’s ever had a dream. “This is a story about being 21,” he writes. “Do you remember turning 21?” Don’t miss it.
🏈 Some other big hoops news from this week: #44 is hanging ‘em up. On a podcast hosted by his brother-in-law, the basketball coach and executive Craig Robinson, and Kentucky head coach John Calipari, President Barack Obama reported that he’s no longer playing pick-up. Of his own ‘Last Dance,’ his final game, he said, “At the end of that I said, 'This is the devil talking, and the next time I play, my Achilles is going to pop and I'm going to be in a boot for six months, and I'm stopping right now. ... I have not played since." Listen to the whole interview here.
🎾 There’s one more huge tournament kicking off this weekend: the Miami Masters, one of the biggest tennis tournaments of the year outside of the fabled Grand Slams. For the Washington Post, Chuck Culpepper speaks with Coco Gauff’s father, Corey, who in 1991 got his own taste of March Madness as a guard for Georgia State.
🇨🇭 Roger Federer sat down with GQ’s Zach Baron for the most in-depth interview since his retirement last year. I loved every second of it, but especially the story of Fed dropping in on a college tennis team’s practice and ripping forehand winners in street clothes. “Every one I hit was perfect,” Federer said. “And I’m just thinking, ‘My God, it’s still there.’”
🏒 In Minnesota, all eyes are on the high school state hockey tournament. And at the Minnesota state hockey tournament, that means all eyes are on ‘salad’ or ‘flow.’ Here’s a fun story from Scott Cacciola about the best collection of hair in sports.