Mario Medina doesn’t yet speak English. He leaves that to his 10-year-old son Mario Jr.
But you didn’t need to know Spanish to understand the joy in Papa Medina’s face following the Chattanooga Football Club’s 2-1 exhibition victory over the under-23 FC Atlas of Mexico on Saturday evening.
“It is very exciting, a team from Mexico coming here,” said Mario the son, who served as his father’s interpreter on the plastic grass floor of Finley Stadium. “It is very good.”
This was a very good night for the Chattanooga area, regardless of the winner on the field. Mingling as they probably never have since the first waves of Hispanics began arriving in Dalton, Ga., more than 15 years ago to work in the carpet industry, longtime Southerners and their fairly new neighbors from south of the border joyously shared their love of that other football, the one played without helmets, pads and an oblong ball.
By Finley’s official count, 6,317 showed up for this one and at least 25 percent of those were cheering the visitors, understandably more excited to cheer players from their native land than their adopted one.
“Football’s a passion point within the Hispanic community, it’s passed on from generation to generation,” said Emiliano Moreno, a Chattanooga resident who works with the CFC but also graciously agreed to interpret for some of his Mexican friends.
“I really believe tonight was just the beginning. I think soccer is going to get bigger and bigger here.”
It may grow bigger here this summer thanks to the cold beer for sale at Finley, but it had been getting bigger in this country for years, even before our borders opened wide and our high school soccer teams began to look like a United Nations conference.
We may not watch the sport the rest of the world refers to as “the beautiful game” in remotely the same numbers with which we tune in baseball, basketball and our football, but more of us play it than any other sport.
And gradually, if only marginally noticeably, that childhood affection for soccer appears to be sustaining itself longer into adulthood.
“I played indoor soccer when I was in the Air Force,” said Keith Chrisman, who brought his 9-year-old son Tucker to the match. “We both enjoy the sport. We’ve never been to a big deal like this, though. I just wanted to have some fun with my son.”
Tucker says the fun of soccer is easy to explain.
“I like the running part and the kicking part,” he said.
That’s not to say they’re willing to put soccer ahead of football.
“They’re both great to watch,” said the elder Chrisman, who wore a Tennessee Titans T-shirt to the game. “But I’d probably rather watch football.”
Whether he’d rather watch it with Tucker is another matter, since Dad roots for Auburn while his son prefers Alabama.
But the Iron Bowl was a long way away on Saturday night. After all, the World Cup gets under way in less than two weeks. Beyond that, the CFC plays a regular-season game at Finley this coming Saturday. And unlike the Atlas exhibition, where walk-up tickets went for $15, the remaining games will cost but $5.
“I just wish we could have one of these (exhibition games) a month,” said 42-year-old Salvador Loa, who’s run the Carniceria Loa meat market in Dalton for the past 14 years.
“Soccer brings players together from all over the world. Look at all the different countries who had players here tonight.”
Loa does lament the lack of soccer facilities in Dalton, where he says 200 teams are crowded into three leagues using very few fields.
“We need more places to play,” he said. “Right now, the fields are crowded all day long.”
If building more fields could advance the kind of sportsmanship displayed by the crowd at the close of the CFC-Atlas match, construction should start yesterday.
The game over, both teams headed toward the home sideline as fans of both teams stood and applauded, the scene far more similar to the closing act of a Broadway play than a sporting event.
“Soccer brings the whole family together,” said Moreno.
It just might also bring a whole community closer together.