The last time the NFL ventured into Mexico was in 2005, when the Arizona Cardinals beat the San Francisco 49ers in Estadio Azteca. Top-level American football is returning to the same venue in Mexico City on Monday night, when the Houston Texans and Oakland Raiders will face off in a contest that has been sold out since July.Just dont assume the 11-year gap is related to a lack of interest. In reality, Mexico is the top international hotbed for American football, with the largest NFL fan base of any country outside the United States. There are more fans of the league in Mexico City than in most actual NFL markets.But the sports popularity in Mexico goes well beyond NFL fandom. From youth leagues that are overtaking soccer in popularity in some parts of the country to a new pro league, American football is a major player south of the border. With that in mind, heres a closer look at where the sport stands on every level in Mexico and how fans there consume the game.YouthYouth leagues have sprouted across Mexico, especially in the northern half of the country, where football has firmly planted itself as the second-most popular sport behind soccer. In the northeastern city of Monterrey, the youth leagues total about 2,000 participants, estimated Alex Olivas, the commissioner of CONADEIP, one of the countrys two major college football leagues.Its actually the No. 1 student sport in whole Mexico, Olivas said.And youth football is taken very seriously. Some fields are covered with FieldTurf, the synthetic grass some college and NFL teams use. There are also Pop Warner programs in Mexico.There is a youth league in Monterrey that actually uses a $300,000 replay system, and an overturned call played a key role in one championship game for 8-year-olds. Yes, replay is used for 8-year-olds. The initial call that a player was down was challenged, and the replay review determined the ball had been fumbled and lost.According to Jorge Orobio, commissioner of the Mexican Federation of American Football, the communal nature of the sport has helped it grow. Families invest money into equipment, travel to games and are generally involved in their childs football career.Its like a culture or a lifestyle, said Hugo Lira, coach of the Tech Puebla college team. Thats why it spread all over the country.Lira, who played as a wide receiver in NFL Europe and took part in Carolina Panthers training camp in 2005, added that he thinks itd probably be bigger than it is now if local games were on TV.Orobio said another way the game could get even bigger would be if the NFL got involved at the grassroots level. As a promotion, the NFL makes a great deal, makes a great platform, but no actual development here in Mexico, he said. Promoting football here in Mexico has been great, but not actually developing it.CollegeMajor college football in Mexico is sanctioned by two organizations: ONEFA, which has been around since 1978, and CONADEIP, a private-school offshoot which was founded in 2010.Most college football games average 2,000 to 3,000 fans, with some of the bigger games drawing crowds of 15,000 to 20,000. Olivas says he has seen crowds reach 40,000, depending on whats at stake and the matchup.The Monterrey Institute of Technology might be considered Mexicos version of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Or, perhaps, Alabama is the Monterrey Tech of the United States. The Borregos Salvajes (Wild Rams) have won 21 national championships, including the 2015 CONADEIP title.The quality of college football in Mexico has been compared to the Division III level of the NCAA. Monterrey Tech has taken on teams throughout Texas, including a victory in a 2009 scrimmage against Blinn College -- a team that happened to have Cam Newton?at quarterback.It has been difficult for players from Mexico to break into major college football north of the border. University of Colorado kicker Diego Gonzalez was thought to be the only Mexican native at the FBS level in the U.S. heading into the 2016 season. Gonzalez enrolled at Monterrey Tech as a college freshman before transferring to Colorado, and he became the Buffaloes regular place-kicker in 2015. He had some tough luck this year, suffering a season-ending torn Achilles tendon in Colorados third game.ProfessionalPro football is just getting off the ground in Mexico. The Liga de Futbol Americano Profesional, based in Mexico City, concluded its first season in April, and reports said attendance exceeded 5,000 fans per game for the inaugural four-team campaign. The Mayas, Raptors, Eagles and Condors each played six regular-season games, and the Mayas claimed the championship by defeating the Raptors 29-13 in the first Mexico Bowl (Tazon Mexico). The league recently announced plans to expand to six teams and venture beyond Mexico City for the 2017 season, which begins in February.Perhaps the LFA can someday play a role in developing NFL-caliber talent. There have been only two Mexican-born players on 53-man NFL rosters since 2001, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Both were offensive linemen: Rolando Cantu, who played one game for the Arizona Cardinals in 2005 (becoming the first player to play college football in Mexico on his way to the NFL), and Victor Leyva, who played 10 games for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2002. Others have taken part in training camp, been on practice squads and played in NFL Europe.Historically, the Mexico natives who have made the largest impact in the NFL have been kickers, notably Efren Herrera, Rafael Septien, Raul Allegre and members of the Zendejas family: Tony, Max and Luis.FansNFL weekends in Mexico look at lot like NFL weekends in the United States. Fans are consumed by the games from Thursday night through Monday night. Jerseys are worn. Allegiances are upheld. Fantasy rosters are checked. Smack is talked.NFL football here in Mexico is pretty, pretty big, Olivas said. We have a lot of Cowboys fans, Steelers fans. Im a Raiders fan. There used to be a lot bigger Raider fan base here.Bars dedicated to individual team fan bases are strewn throughout Mexico City. Olivas estimated that NFL fans with cable TV can watch as many as nine games a week. According to NFL.com, nine different networks, including ESPN and Fox Sports Latin America, broadcast NFL games in Mexico.For followers to further develop their fandom for their favorite teams, theres an NFL store in a mall in Monterrey, outfitted with jerseys, apparel and other merchandise.Its just a coincidence, but Mexicos Constitution Day national holiday is observed the first Monday in February, often the day after the Super Bowl. That allows revelers to cut loose during the big game without having to worry about work the next day. Its a big-time party, Olivas said of Super Bowl Sunday in Mexico.Large house parties, with plenty of beer and carne asada, are common, and beer companies sponsor gatherings that draw hundreds of fans. Olivas said the game is televised on four different channels, widening the scope of who can watch it. As in the U.S., streets are barren in many cities and towns, especially in the northern half of the country. That stops a lot of what you do on Sundays, he said of the Super Bowl. Your day is all about football.Nike Air Max Plus Rea . -- On the field, it was business as usual for Jameis Winston and No. Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 35 Sverige . Gerald Green and Miles Plumlee? Green had bounced around the NBA when he wasnt playing overseas. The Pacers gave up on Plumlee after just one season. Now Green and Plumlee are key cogs in the Suns surprising breakout season. http://www.airvapormaxsverige.com/vapormax-plus-rea.html . -- Anaheim Ducks defenceman Luca Sbisa will be out at least six weeks with a torn tendon in his right hand. Vapormax Flyknit 3 Sverige .Y. - Nelson Mandela will be honoured by the New York Yankees with a plaque in Monument Park. Nike Zoom Fly Rea . 8 Iowa State on Saturday, sending the Cyclones to their third consecutive loss. The Longhorns (14-4, 3-2) got their biggest win of the season with their third in the row in the Big 12.RIO DE JANEIRO -- Track and field events in these Olympics take place a few miles away from the Maracana at the Olympic Stadium. But the first semifinal of the womens soccer tournament between Sweden and Brazil felt as much like a race against time as anything else.Sweden tried to outlast the clock for 120 minutes and take its chances in a shootout.Marta tried to outlast a lifetime of minutes to come up with a defining moment of glory for Brazil.For both, the clock finally ran out.Which goes a long way to explaining why Sweden will play for gold after edging Brazil 4-3 in a penalty shootout that followed 120 minutes of scoreless soccer. In front of 70,544 people in the Maracana, a voice vote suggesting almost all of them rooting for the host, Sweden absorbed, managed, dulled and finally escaped the Brazilian attack.For the second game in a row, frustration reigned. For the second game in a row, following a quarterfinal shootout win against the reigning Olympic champion United States, Sweden ceded possession, soaked up shots and let what most will call a better team run itself out.Although the language barrier makes it difficult to confirm, it didnt sound like anyone from Brazil called the Swedes covardes after the Europeans replicated their earlier stunner, right down to the Lisa Dahlkvist penalty that clinched it.It is a very different way of playing, I have to say that, allowed Sweden coach Pia Sundhage of the contrast with her past jobs, including the United States. With the U.S. team it was attacking football, great personalities in the box. Now its the other way around. If I mentioned Abby Wambach, to give an example, I will now mention Linda Sembrant and Nilla Fischer.Those two defenders anchored the middle of a back line that was under siege from the outset, pressed by 11 Brazilian players and deafened by tens of thousands in the stands. They were stars on this day, if you cared to appreciate their work.Take one sequence with a little more than half an hour gone. With the right back next to her threatened by one of Brazils endless diagonal long passes that sought to slip behind the defense, Fischer had to step out to stop the advance. As if connected by a rope, Sembrant slid inside and was in position to deflect the ball then played toward what had a second earlier been open space.Perhaps a minute later, as another wave of Brazilian possession washed over Sweden, it was Sembrant pulled wide to assist the left back vulnerable next to her. When Brazils Beatriz then beat Sembrant, Fischer came across and timed a tackle to perfection to force a goal kick. The 32-year-old defender stayed down for a minute, then got up and limped on, a new attack surely imminent.If this isnt the kind of soccer people think will sell the sport -- a team advancing with 35 percent of possession and 27 fewer shots than its opponent -- then so be it. But it ought to be the kind of athletic effort that is appreciated. There is no margin for error, no room for anything but collective effort.When I started coaching, I wanted to play attacking football and take a lot of chances, said Sundhage, noting that this included her time with the United States. Now whatever team I have in front of me, I adjust my way of playing and try to coach that way because we need to get out the most of the players. If its a lot of attacking, defending -- four in the back or five in the middle -- it doesnt matter. My job is to make sure that they want me to lead the team, to be the coach, and trust what were doing. And in order to do that, I need to know the players.For all of that effort expended, there was still a moment that seemed fit for the setting. After a foul on Brazils Beatriz, Marta stood over a free kickk in the 118th minute.dddddddddddd A little more than 20 yards from goal, she had an opportunity to shake Brazils most famous stadium with the kind of noise no woman ever generated on a soccer field in this soccer-mad country.At 30, Marta is not the player she was even a few years ago, there are simply too many games on her legs. But she is still Marta, still able to show in bursts things that few if any other players can do. So many times Tuesday it felt like she was close to making it happen.She swung her foot at history, but Swedens organization left her with room only to bounce a shot into the waiting arms of goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl. Marta made her final kick on the day count, burying the opening shot of the shootout, but even that noise was quickly dulled when Lotta Schelin, another star with more career behind her than ahead, answered in kind.So Brazil, which drew nearly 150,000 fans to its final three games in three different cities, will play for bronze in Sao Paulo. But even with that game to play, and a medal in its own Olympics no insignificant prize, it felt like the end of a run Tuesday afternoon. Brazil coach Vadao was asked whether the next generation was ready if those 30 or older like Marta, Cristiane and the indomitable Formiga, playing in her sixth and final Olympics, will soon be gone.Theyre needed in order to pass this on to the new generation, especially considering there is little support in Brazil for womens football. Vadao said. So this makes the replenishment a bit slow. So if you lose five, six, seven players, of course, this is going to affect the new generation. And a lot of hard work and effort will have to be put in to replacing them. Its not easy to replace the women, as opposed to the men, where the structure and the support is all there.The Brazilian team should be judged by results. Pity support, a condescending pat on the head, is barely better than no support at all in any push for equality. At some point, it would oddly say more about the health of the womens game in Brazil if instead of cheers, the team left the field after a game like this to a chorus of boos. Or at least the background noise of grumbling.But the team should also be judged based on its circumstances. Context does matter. And there was something inspirational about what this team tried to do. The starting lineup in the semifinal included players based in seven countries. The 33 players who started for the other semifinal teams were spread across just five countries. Granted, thats true for the Brazilian men, too, but they go abroad to seek their fortunes. The women do because its their only choice to play.This loss wont take away from all that we have done to get here, Marta said in Portuguese. We have the match for the bronze medal now, and we will fight until the end to get that medal. We have to pick up the pieces to try to win this medal.Swedens Sofia Jakobsson, who played her own role in the tactical success by stretching the field with fresh legs as a second-half substitute, counts several Brazilian players as close friends from her time on pro teams in Russia and now France.They are playing for home and in front of so many people out there, Jakobsson said. Im happy for our team, but I feel for them. But soccer is like that. One team wins and one team loses. Im happy for us, but Im sad for them.A lot of people will be sad Brazil is out of the running for gold.Yet the reasons to celebrate Brazil share common root with the reason to celebrate Sweden.Take what you have and make something of it. And dont worry what anyone else says. 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