Mexican pro soccer teams, Club America and Pachuca, play an exhibition match on Saturday, July 7, 2012, in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Ninety minutes before kickoff Saturday night, a few thousand soccer fans — many of them wearing Club America jerseys and blowing on vuvuzela horns — were already turning the exhibition at Finley Stadium into a celebration.
With two of Mexico’s finest professional soccer teams, Club America and Pachuca, making a very rare appearance in Tennessee, a mostly Hispanic crowd of about 10,000 (no official number was announced) made their voices heard from late afternoon until the final horn a little after 10 p.m.
There were cheers, songs, drums, even those dreaded vuvuzelas that were the bane of the 2010 World Cup. It was a feel-like-home party from the opening kick to the end of Club America’s 1-0 win.
Finley Stadium executive director Merrill Eckstein said he was pleased with the turnout, especially considering that Chattanooga wasn’t on the soccer map five years ago when the Chattanooga Football Club began its first season.
“This is amazing to me,” Eckstein said. “When you get the New York Yankees of Mexican soccer [meaning Club America] coming in here, you have accomplished something.”