Major League Soccer's opening weekend did not produce impressive crowds this year. Probably the most significant gathering of fans actually occurred earlier last week, when 6,000 showed up at Toyota Park in suburban Chicago to greet Cuauhtemoc Blanco, less than 24 hours after the Fire announced the signing of the Mexican forward.
Blanco is among the more controversial figures in Mexican football, an inspirational, creative force on the field and a live wire off the field. Blanco is playing for Club America, the second-most popular club in Mexico behind Chivas, and will not join the Fire until July. Like David Beckham, Blanco will inject enthusiasm and personality into the mix, with his repertoire of backheels and Cuauhteminhas (a jump step through two opponents), and goal celebrations in honor of his namesake, the last Aztec emperor.
There is more than coincidence involved in the fact the Fire and Los Angeles Galaxy are controlled by Anschutz Entertainment Group, which realizes MLS must shell out dollars to spark interest. A Fire offer was rejected by Zinedine Zidane, who wanted as much as $15 million. Chicago's Plan B could be a cost-effective one. Blanco will earn more than $2.5 million annually (Beckham's salary will be $5.5 million), and the league should see an immediate return.
The Chicago market is more Mexican than ever, according to a Chicago Tribune feature story which suggested immigrants from Guanajuato, Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacan, and Zacatecas states are gaining the political power of "Irish-Americans in the 19th and 20th Centuries, who came to control the Chicago machine." Now, the Fire must try to harness that potential. A crowd of 15,353 arrived for the Fire's opener, a 1-0 win over the Revolution Saturday, despite freezing temperatures, a good indication the team has a solid base of interest.
Blanco could kick the Fire to the next level, but it might be a good idea to bring in some support (Gerardo Torrado, German Villa) and a heavyweight striker (Jared Borgetti).
Club over country
Italian soccer is facing a reality check less than a year after the Azzurri won the World Cup in Germany. AS Roma will defend a 2-1 advantage over Manchester United at Old Trafford today and AC Milan will attempt to recover from surrendering a last-second goal in a 2-2 tie with Bayern Munich when it visits
Allianz Arena tomorrow. Most of Serie A should be backing the Italian clubs, since their success would lead to seeding advantages in the future, but
Giuseppe Rossi is not. Rossi is in a unique position, a New Jersey native, playing for Parma on loan from Manchester United. Rossi has been performing for Italy's Under-21 national team but US Soccer officials have not given up on convincing him to return to the country of his birth.
Over there: Keegan cooking
Former Revolution forward
Paul Keegan had something of a breakout game for Motherwell in a 2-0 win over Dunfermline in Scotland last week. But Keegan, an original member of the Revolution, sustained a minor knee injury and missed a 1-0 loss to Celtic FC in Glasgow Saturday. Keegan, 34, is also putting the degree he earned at Boston College to use as a franchisee for Domino's Pizza, a project he started before being surprisingly offered a 1-year contract by Motherwell. Keegan's career has not only been revived, he could be playing an even more prominent role next season with the departure of Australian
Scott McDonald, who moves to Celtic on a transfer worth nearly $1.4 million . . .
Charlie Davies, a Manchester, N.H., native who played at Boston College, will miss Hammarby's game against GAIS in the Allsvenskan opener tonight with a leg injury but is expected to return for Friday's game against Trelleborgs . . . Amherst's
Robbie Russell started at right back for Viborg in a 3-1 loss to FC Horsens yesterday in Denmark's Superliga.
US women have Mass. appeal
The US-Mexico match Saturday will be the women's national team's first appearance at Gillette Stadium since Aug. 1, 2003. The US women's team is 5-0-1 (19-0 goal differential) and has averaged 29,687 spectators per game since 1998 in Norfolk County (five games at Foxboro Stadium). The US defeated Norway, 1-0, on
Abby Wambach's goal in the '03 Women's World Cup before 25,104 at Gillette Stadium; but the team has not attracted more than 7,119 fans (Aug. 27, 2006 in Bridgeview, Ill., for a 4-1 win over China) since 2004.
His idea wasn't a bust
The village of Milford, about 45 miles west of Belfast, is erecting a bust of
William McCrum, who introduced the penalty kick in 1885. McCrum, a goalkeeper for the club Milford Everton, was attempting to deal with the excessive fouling of defenders with the penalty kick, which was adopted in the rest of Great Britain June 2, 1891. McCrum was a respected linen manufacturer, but apparently gambled away most of his wealth by the time he died in 1932.
Frank Dell'Apa can be reached at f_dellapa@globe.com. 
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