A few years back Jimmy Nordberg, then coach of an indoor soccer team in Ontario, was trying to come up with a way to build interest in a sport that, so far, had generated very little.
“So we thought ‘what’s the best rivalry we have in this country as far as soccer goes?’,” said Nordberg, now executive vice president of the Ontario-based Empire Strykers. “It’s us versus Mexico.”
That was five years ago and the idea worked so well, drawing 7,800 people that first year, nearly four times what Nordberg’s team averaged during the regular season, that the exhibition has become a regular staple of the team’s preseason schedule.