The Mexican and Colombian men’s under-20 national soccer teams will face off in a “friendly” at Finley Stadium late next month, further cementing Chattanooga’s reputation as an emerging soccer city.
The game is scheduled for Nov. 30 as part of the teams’ two-game swing through the Southeast. The Atlanta Beat are sponsoring their trip to the United States — both teams will play the U.S. U-20 national team in Atlanta — and the Chattanooga Football Club will serve as local hosts.
CFC board member Sheldon Grizzle said soccer promoter Scott Spencer contacted CFC about hosting the game.
“It’s a no-brainer. Of course we’d love to help,” Grizzle said. “Part of our mission is to reach out to the Hispanic community, and we feel that soccer is a way to bring these different, multicultural groups together.
“It’s a natural dovetail with what we’re already doing.”
Chattanooga FC hosted an international opponent, the under-23 team from F.C. Atlas of Guadalajara, Mexico, in May. That game drew an announced crowd of 6,317, and Grizzle said the Mexico national squad may include one or two of the Atlas players.
Finley Stadium executive director Merrill Eckstein said the game is a welcome addition to the stadium’s schedule at a time when it won’t get much use unless the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team hosts a playoff game.
The stadium has hosted national-team games in the past. In November 1997, a crowd of more than 13,000 showed up to watch the U.S. women’s soccer team — which featured Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain — beat Sweden 3-1.
Grizzle said hosting notable games like a friendly between national teams is “crucial” to the growth of the sport in the area.
“We’re trying to promote the game of soccer in the Chattanooga region and make Chattanooga a hub for soccer in the South,” he said. “In order to do that, you’ve got to host more than Chattanooga FC versus Rocket City United. That’s why we did kind of our beta test with Atlas, just to see what was out there.
“By the crowd, I think we saw that there’s something to it. It makes us more and more excited to kind of act as the rally point for more of these games.”
John Frierson is in his fifth year at the Times Free Press and fifth year covering University of Tennessee at Chattanooga athletics. The bulk of his time is spent covering Mocs football, but he also writes about women’s basketball and the big-picture issues and news involving the athletic department. A native of Athens, Ga., John grew up a few hundred yards from the University of Georgia campus. Instead of becoming a Bulldog he attended Ole ...
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