Seven months ago, the Chattanooga Football Club brought in the under-23 team from a Mexican professional soccer club to play a game at Finley Stadium.
Colombia vs. MexicoThe Colombia and Mexico under-20 men's national soccer teams will play an exhibition game tonight. The game is one of each team's many preparation matches for the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup qualifying.When: 7 p.m.Where: Finley StadiumTickets: $20Rain or shine: Despite the heavy rains expected today, the game will go on as scheduled.
A crowd of 6,317 showed up to see CFC prevail 2-1 against F.C. Atlas of Guadalajara. The strong local support for that game helped pave the way for tonight's international exhibition.
The under-20 national teams from Colombia and Mexico will play a friendly at Finley as part of their preparations for the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup qualifying.
"It's going to be a good game for both teams," Mexico technical director Juan Carlos Ortega said through an interpreter. "They're both good teams and they're preparing for the [World Cup]."
Both squads are comprised of players from professional teams in their countries, so the quality of play should be extremely high, event organizer Scott Spencer said.
They spent the weekend in the Atlanta area playing in the Torneo de las Americas, an event put on by Spencer and the Atlanta Beat that featured Colombia, Mexico and the United States U-20 team.
Colombia beat the U.S. on penalty kicks last Friday. Mexico topped the U.S. on penalty kicks Sunday.
"The games we had in Atlanta were absolutely fantastic," Spencer said. "Colombia's got some unbelievable creative players - very quick, very technical, very dynamic - and they caused both teams a lot of trouble. Mexico, they're all professionals and very skilled, and they play a skilled, possession-oriented game.
"These are the future stars of the senior national teams, and these are the guys that will be playing the World Cup in Brazil in 2014."
Tonight's game is a rematch of the teams' hard-fought game Saturday that also was decided on penalty kicks. Mexico drew six yellow cards and Colombia coach Eduardo Laura was ejected before the Mexicans prevailed in the end.
"[The rematch] should be about the same because Colombia is a good team," said Mexico defender Alexis Loera, who plays professionally for Atlas and has played in the United States before - in Texas, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Spencer said he's hoping for a big turnout tonight, especially from the Hispanic communities in and around Chattanooga and Dalton. The fans who brave the soggy conditions will be treated to an intense matchup, he said.
"It is a bit of a rivalry any time Mexico plays a South American country, and they're both preparing for qualifying," Spencer said. "There were a couple of battles [Saturday] and now they're turning around and playing a couple of days later, so it should be a great game."
Contact John Frierson at jfrierson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6268. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/mocsbeatCTFP.