The Cough Heard 'Round the World

By MATTHEW MOFFETT
Monday, May 4, 2009
Wall Street Journal

In an emotional soccer match played amid backdrop of the swine flu epidemic, Hector
Reynoso of Mexico's Guadalajara Chivas club launched the cough heard round the
Latin American sporting world.
While tangled up with Sebastian Penco of the local Everton squad in Vina del Mar,
Chile, on Wednesday, Mr. Reynoso went through an elaborate pantomime of infecting
Mr. Penco with the swine flu virus. Mr. Reynoso coughed in his opponent's face and
then appeared to expel mucus from his nostrils towards Mr. Penco.
Mr. Reynoso subsequently said he didn't have the flu. But his aggressive display,
replayed thousands of times on YouTube, may be complicating the already difficult
task Mexican teams face in finding a venue for their games in the prestigious
Libertadores Cup competition.
Guadalajara and San Luis are the two Mexican clubs still participating in the Cup,
which draws teams from throughout Latin America. But with other Latin American
teams unwilling to come to Mexico to play, the two Mexican squads haven't been able
to find another country willing to serve as a provisional site for their home matches.
Colombian health officials on Thursday overruled a decision by their country's
football association to allow the Mexican clubs to use Bogota as a temporary home.
Chile has also given thumbs down to the Mexicans.
The Libertadores dilemma shows how sports have become another casualty of
Mexico's swine flu epidemic. Mexico's recent first division soccer games have been
played in empty stadiums as a result of the government's ban on large concentrations
of people. Mexico's professional baseball league announced a five-day suspension of
games starting last Friday. Many amateur sporting events have also been canceled.
Mr. Reynoso apologized to Mr. Penco for the incident. But he and his Mexican
teammates said the action reflected pent-up frustration over having been stigmatized
by Chileans because of the illness.
Gonzalo Pineda, a teammate of Mr. Reynoso's, told reporters that the Mexicans faced
ridicule visiting a Chilean shopping mall before the game.
"Here come the Mexicans; they are going to infect us," was how Mr. Pineda described
the feeling the Chileans gave them. "The situation made us feel like lepers." The
Mexicans said Everton players continued the insults on the pitch.

Everton's Mr. Penco said that he hadn't said anything to the Mexicans about the flu
during the match, and that he doubts his teammates did either. "They're almost saints,"
he said. But Mr. Penco said he had accepted an apology from Mr. Reynoso and was
frankly tired of talking about the issue.
The Chilean press wasn't letting Mr. Reynoso off the hook so easily. The Chilean
daily Las Ultimas Noticias said the Mexican player took advantage of "swine
psychosis" and that for Everton, the coughing incident "couldn't have [been] a worse
farewell."