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'Since Day 1, we've been loud': The Curse, United's fan club, beaming after team's hot start
New Mexico United fans celebrate their team’s 2-0 victory over Orange County SC on Wednesday at Isotopes Park.
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New Mexico United is off to the best start in its six-year history, is undefeated at home and fans are taking notice.
Wednesday, the top team in the United Soccer League Championship Western Conference improved to 11-4-1 overall and 7-0 at home after a dominant 2-0 win over Orange County SC in front of 12,147 fans, who had Isotopes Park rocking for 90-plus minutes.
It was the most fans to see a USLC game this year in any stadium in the country.
“Since Day 1, we’ve been loud, we’ve been rowdy, we have drums, we have horns here and there, we have saxophones come in sometimes and trombones,” said Carlos Tenorio II, president of the Curse, the team’s fan club.
The Curse is about 200 boisterous members strong and sit behind the southside goal at home games, cheering United and taunting opponents. They jump, they scream, they fly flags, they set off smoke bombs, all members clad in black and yellow.
“We (the Curse) are all big soccer fans here, we go watch the Premier League and we try to mimic that atmosphere here where the whole stadium is singing,” said Andrew Burlingame, who considers himself to be a “Day 1” fan.
Among the plethora of chants the Curse will lead at United games are “Pobrecito” and “Vamos United.”
The fans chant “Pobrecito” (translating to “poor thing” in English) when an opposing player complains to an official or exaggerates an injury.
“Pobrecito was based off of conversations with my grandmother when I was a kid and it got implemented,” Tenorio said. “It just started with me saying it and people caught on.”
Spreading the Curse
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Tenorio and the Curse have not only made an impact for New Mexico’s soccer team on the field, but have also influenced the state outside of the stadium.
The fans have gathered to clean up the bosque, advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and recently helped support relief efforts for victims of the Ruidoso fires.
The name Curse is a nod to former Gov. Lew Wallace’s disdain for the state.
Wallace, the Civil War hero and author, didn’t have nice things to say about the Land of Enchantment in an 1881 letter to his wife, and others have translated Wallace’s words to mean the state was “cursed.”
