Dear Miami: You're the capital of Latin American culture, a city so soccer-crazy that trying to find a free field for pick-up footy is tougher than sneaking an inflatable banana into a nightclub. Yet you cared so little for your MLS franchise that it dissolved after three seasons. The only professional club left in town scrambles for fans. Are you a soccer town or not, dammit?
You have another chance to prove it: The U.S. national team and new wunderbar coach Jurgen Klinsmann just announced they will come to Sun Life Stadium next month for the first time in 13 years. Don't screw this up!
Klinsmann, who took over the team from Bob Bradley at the end of July, has already begun blowing up the team's lineup with a youth infusion and a batch of defections by some hot-shit German-American dual citizens.
He'll bring that new look to Sun Life October 8 to face Honduras, a CONCACAF rival that made the World Cup last year.
The catrachos will draw plenty of support from Miami's blue-and-white Tegucigalpa crowd, and don't be surprised to see South Florida native Joze Altidore -- the young winger who's been destroying the Dutch leagues this year -- up front for the Americans.
Last time the U.S. team played at Sun Life? Way back in 1998. (They did play Haiti to a 1-1 tie in 2004 at the Orange Bowl.)
Just to clarify: Neither Argentine Lionel Messi nor the Shakira-shagging Gerard Piqué will be around, so no one expects 70,000 to descend on Sun Life as they did for Barca versus Chivas last month.
But just to throw this out there: A huge, insane crowd certainly wouldn't hurt Miami's chances of getting back on MLS's radar after a bid by Barcelona to establish a U.S. franchise here petered out last year.
After all, we just spent $550 million on an absurdly unnecessary Marlins stadium in Little Havana. Wouldn't the sting feel a little better if a pro soccer club were to share the retractable-roof space?
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