Where Mexico Goes, Fans Follow
The drawing power of Mexico’s national team and its top clubs in the United States continues to impress.
Last month, a Mexico-Yugoslavia game in Phoenix drew 43,000. Last Wednesday, a Mexico-Albania game in San Diego drew 31,902. The night before, a turnaway crowd packed Titan Stadium at Cal State Fullerton to see Cruz Azul play the Galaxy.
On Tuesday, another throng is expected at the Coliseum when Chivas of Guadalajara takes on UNAM Pumas of Mexico City at 7:30 p.m.
Earlier that day, the Galaxy will hold its annual kickoff luncheon at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, a noon event sponsored by the Los Angeles Sports Council and the L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce and open to the public.
Considering the crowds that Mexican players are attracting, it may seem odd to those at the Biltmore that there is no Mexican player on the Galaxy roster.
Of course, Coach Sigi Schmid still has some salary-cap room and at least one foreign roster spot open, so things might change.
On the other hand, why should they?
There are no French, German, Italian, English, Iranian, Brazilian, Spanish or Argentine players on the Galaxy, either, and yet the Major League Soccer team survives.
How many Mexican players do the Lakers have? The Kings? The bottom line: Having a player with a Mexican passport hasn’t added to the gate in the past, and it’s unlikely to do so in the future. It’s not the nationality of the players but the quality of their play that brings the crowds.
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Testing Time
This week offers a couple of interesting tests locally. Will Chivas bring such stars as Oswaldo Sanchez, Ramon Morales, Ramon Ramirez, Gustavo Naples and Joel “El Tiburon” Sanchez to the Coliseum on Tuesday?
Similarly, will Pumas, coached by Hugo Sanchez, play Jorge Campos, Christian Ramirez, Gerardo Galindo, Miguel Espana and Emerson Dos Santos?
All too often, visiting Mexican teams and local promoters promise more than they deliver. If the fans show up but the stars do not, it will be one more reason to ignore such events.
The game has an interesting sidelight. The Coliseum has been given permission by U.S. Soccer to stage this game even though the Coliseum Commission has a lawsuit in progress against U.S. Soccer, alleging what amounts to restraint of trade.
In the second test, at 7 p.m. Saturday, the Galaxy opens its seventh MLS season against longtime rival D.C. United at the Rose Bowl.
Comparing Tuesday’s Coliseum crowd to Saturday’s MLS crowd, both in numbers and ethnic makeup, should provide Doug Hamilton, the Galaxy’s general manager, with a few clues about where to spend his marketing dollars.
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More Blather
Also coming to town this week is Joseph “Sepp” Blatter, the beleaguered president of FIFA, world soccer’s governing body.
Ostensibly, Blatter will be here to address a weeklong sports medicine symposium at the Beverly Hills Hilton.
It’s more than likely, however, that Blatter--or Blather as he is known by opponents--will spend some time huddled with Alan Rothenberg, trying to figure out a way to retain his presidency when he comes up for reelection in May.
Rothenberg has a lower profile these days but still wields considerable power within U.S. Soccer and, more to the point, CONCACAF.
If CONCACAF intends to support Blatter in his reelection bid, the very least the U.S. should get out of it is the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2003.
Also vying to be host of that event are Australia, Egypt, Italy and South Africa, and France and Switzerland in a joint bid.
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Mac the Knife
The best striker on the U.S. women’s national team right now is Shannon MacMillan, who leads the attack when the San Diego Spirit plays the Women’s United Soccer Assn.-champion San Jose CyberRays in an exhibition today at 5 p.m. at Cal State Fullerton.
With international players MacMillan, Julie Foudy, Joy Fawcett, China’s Fan Yunjie and Nigeria’s Mercy Akide on the Spirit, and with the CyberRays featuring Tisha Venturini, Brazil’s Sissi and Katia, and Australia’s Julie Murray, the game should be a near sellout.
If it isn’t, forget about L.A. getting a WUSA team any time soon. Local fans won’t deserve one.
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New York, New York
News item: South Africa eases out Carlos Queiroz and selects Jomo Sono, 45, to take his place as coach of its World Cup team.
Comment: One ex-New Yorker is as good as another. Queiroz had a brief spell as coach of the New York/New Jersey MetroStars and Sono played for the New York Cosmos in North American Soccer League days.
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Little Cents
News item: Eric Wynalda spurns MLS and the Galaxy and signs instead with the Charleston Battery of the A-League.
Comment: What on earth did the league and the club think Wynalda would do when it offered him $43,000 a year and no chance to start?
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Class of Coaches
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