Mexican Fans in San Jose

Yes, Mexican soccer is quite popular in the Bay Area. There's no question about it. So popular that the Mexico U-23 national team's match against Australia on Sunday afternoon at the McAfee Coliseum in Oakland is already a sellout. The match will mark Mexico's return to McAfee Coliseum in a slightly more than a year when the full Mexican national team defeated Ecuador, 4-2, in front of a sold-out crowd of 47,416. The San Jose Earthquakes have hosted both of these matches and therfore must be quite aware of the popularity of Mexican players as well as the fact that Mexican fans turn out to see their teams play. So why haven't the Earthquakes leveraged this for themselves by bringing in one, two or even three Mexican players to be part of their new squad? I think they are trying to leverage this to some extent as shown by the fact they've scheduled the season opener against the Chicago Fire at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland which will feature the first visit of Blanco playing with the Fire. The stadium in Oakland will hold many mthree or four times as many fans than Buck Shaw Stadium obviously. The other two games currently scheduled to take place at the Oakland stadium are the two games when the Galaxy visit and bring the David Beckham touring roadshow to town and the Quakes obviously want to get the most attendance out of those games as well. Of course the salaries for many Mexican players are higher than what MLS teams can afford to pay. Also many Mexican players prefer to stay and play in their home league where they are comfortable. Lately the better ones are also heading over to Eurpoe to play for large salaries that European teams can pay. Several Mexican players are now playing for teams in top leagues across the pond. Marquez and Dos Santos are at Barcelona, Salcido is with PSV Eindhoven, Pardo is with Stuttgart and Vela is with Osasuna. These players are all on the current Mexican national team though. The Earthquakes could target younger unproven players that they could afford. The other option for the Earthquakes would be to use their designated player option to bring over someone in the prime of their career. This would likely need to be someone on the current national team in order to be successful marketing-wise. There are only so many Blancos around. Currently there are four Mexican players plying their trade in MLS. Dallas most recently picked up the latest one in Dulio Davino. Davino was signed not as a designated player, but also claimed that he was coming to play in MLS for the experience of playing abroad, not just for the money. Current MLS Players From Mexico Chicago - Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Forward Chivas - Francisco Mendoza, Midfielder Chivas - Claudio Suarez, Defender Dallas - Duilio Davino, Defender Francisco Mendoza started in the Chivas youth system and has developed into a solid starter the last few years in MLS. The other three, Blanco, Suarez and Duvino are all in their thirties and could be considered on the tail-end of their careers. Suarez, the oldest has been surprisingly very steady running the Chivas defense over the last two years and rarely gets burned defensively. He's announced this will likely be his final season playing. The important thing for the Earthquakes is to build a solid team, a winning team no matter where the players are from. I whole heartedly agree with this approach. It is the correct approach. However if you can do that and at the same time sprinkle in some Mexican players to draw the Mexican fans in it can be the best of both worlds. There have been Mexican players brought over to MLS in these attempts to cater to the Mexican fans, especially in the early years of MLS. The San Jose Clash obtained Missael Espinoza and he was a big hit with the local fans. In 1996 Espinoza had 10 goals, 5 assists in 26 games and was also the main attraction at the downtown Cinco de Mayo parade that year. Other Mexican players have been brought over with some success in attracting fans, the Galaxy have tried this most notably with the likes of Jorge Campos, Carlos Hermosillo and Luis Hernandez. Bottom line is if the Earthquakes could find an attacking player or two who are still young like Francisco Mendoza or a solid veteran who has earned the respect of Mexican fans over the years such as Dulio Davino it could spark interest from the Mexican fans in San Jose again. As long as the players can still play and make valuable contributions to the success of the team. It has to be in the name of building a quality, winning team instead of simply to cater to the Mexican fans. Only time will tell how the Earthquakes plan to leverage the popularity of Mexican players going forward. What are your thoughts? Who would you like to see if the Quakes brought over a Mexican player or two? Would it be successful?