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October 8, 2008 - 9:50PM
Mexican pro soccer team weighs Valley affiliate
Al Bravo, For the Tribune
The return of professional soccer to the Valley appears to be a step closer. And it could play in Mesa.
Soccer organizers in Phoenix along with representatives of a top-level Mexican professional club said Wednesday that the Mexican team is nearing an announcement that it will establish an affiliate in Phoenix that will play in the top minor league of American soccer.
The Valley team, which is being billed as AZ Tuzos USA, would be in the United Soccer League first division.
The vice president of Club de Futbol Pachuca, the oldest Mexican major league soccer team, and local organizers are scheduled to meet with Mesa officials and visit Hohokam Stadium today as a possible site.
Stadiums in Tolleson and west Phoenix were visited Wednesday along with representatives of Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
The team would begin play in the 2010 season.
"We are in the final stages," said Luis Baraldi, vice president of Pachuca, one of the founding members of the Mexican soccer league.
"We just need to get the green light from the administration and president of the club for Phoenix to be our home in April 2010."
Under the plan, the Phoenix franchise will be an affiliate of Pachuca, which has won five national titles, three CONCACAF (North America, South America and Caribbean confederation) club championships, including the last two, and will compete in the Club World Cup in December.
Baraldi and members of the local soccer club and a group supporting the expansion of Major League Soccer into Phoenix were hoping to make an official announcement Wednesday night at a south Phoenix pizza parlor but will have to wait 30 to 45 days, Baraldi said.
The club still must travel to San Antonio, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., before announcing its final decision, but Baraldi said Phoenix topped the short list.
It brings the fifth big game to the Valley, said Stuart Starky, director of the AZ Tuzos club. And that has been a goal for years.
The United Soccer League plays a summer schedule and is generally regarded as the Triple-A of pro soccer in the United States, but its teams do not have direct affiliations with MLS clubs.
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