Cruz Azul sets social media ablaze by putting its flag on the Rocky statue ahead of Leagues Cup opener against Union
The Rocky curse went international during the World Cup earlier this summer, and now a team from Mexico’s Liga MX is tempting fate.
It would appear that Liga MX team Cruz Azul didn’t get the memo about the now-famed Rocky curse.
Or they did, and they don’t care.
The Mexican side, in town to face the Union Thursday night in the first round of the Leagues Cup, put out a social post Wednesday morning depicting its flag draped over the shoulder of the Rocky statue, which currently sits atop the famed steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The statue gained worldwide recognition during Philly’s involvement in the FIFA World Cup earlier this summer, when fans were reminded of the lore of visiting teams suffering a loss whenever its fans placed the team’s colors on the statue. In June, it was Ecuador fans who learned the hard way, placing the nation’s jersey onto the statue ahead of their Group E match against the Ivory Coast.
Ecuador lost, 1-0, causing some to not only blame the curse but also forcing the fan who put the jersey on the statue into offering a public apology. The viral moment spread quickly, and before the next Philly match, Brazilian fans who marched to the Art Museum steps brought in a security detail and put up a partition around the statue to ensure no one would make the same mistake.
However, later in the tournament, Croatian fans attempted to debunk the myth, with a group called Mi Hrvati (We Croats) claiming to have secretly put Croatian garb on the statue ahead of their Group L game against Ghana. Croatia went on to win the match 2-1, and qualify for the knockout round.
Whether the curse is real or not — and in this case whether the team’s colors were draped on the statue in person or through a really good Photoshop job — remains to be seen. But Cruz Azul’s post set social media ablaze, and even the city of Philadelphia chimed in.
A few other tweets offered some food for thought — or at minimum, a bit of a chuckle.
Whether or not Cruz Azul will meet the same fate as Ecuador and other before them will be determined when they take on the Union inside Subaru Park on Thursday night (8 p.m., FS1, Apple TV, UniMas, TUDN). It will be the second time the Union face Cruz Azul in the tournament that features teams from the MLS and Mexico’s Liga MX. In 2024, the Union fell 5-3 in penalty kicks after battling back to deadlock the score at 1-1 in regulation during a match to remember in Chester.
However, the Union head into Thursday’s match behind a three-game win streak since the World Cup break and plenty of momentum to prove that messing with the curse is still not an endeavor worth exploring.
Cruz Azul, on the other hand, sits sixth in Liga MX standings and is coming off a league loss to Atlante last Saturday.
