As former USL league-mates Vancouver select an El Paso kid first in the MLS SuperDraft, it raises questions in the Sun City about a promising future wasted by the El Paso Patriots and a city that doesn't realize what it could have. Column on the subject at: TWCSportsEP.com
Don't know if El Paso is ready or ever will be ready to have a real professional sports team, let alone soccer. It seems like the attendance of every athletic event in the city is directly tied to where the team is in the standings. I am sure that there are a lot of sports markets that are similar, but I've seen Patriots struggle with attendance when they were having great years. Is the talent there? I believe so. Because El Paso is so far off the radar, dozens of players have missed out on their chance to "make it" in professional soccer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there are currently 4 players in the USMNT pool at various levels from EP. There's another one that is not in the pool but is committed to the NCAA Division 1 National Champs, U of Akron. It seems like people are now starting to pay close attention to this area (Las Cruces as well). For a team to succeed here, I think they need to do the following: -Take advantage of your resources and build from the ground up. The talent that is available in the Sun City is great. They could also pull kids in from Midland/Odessa, Las Cruces and Albuquerque. -Get a real stadium. Whether provided by the tax payers or private investors. -Build a relationship with one of the clubs in Mexico. FC Dallas has done something similar with a Brazilian club (the club escapes me at the moment). It would give our boys a chance to go down and train with Pachuca, Chivas or whoever and provide the Mexican club with a place to loan out their players. -Designated player. I think because of the cultural similarities between El Paso and other parts of Latin America, EP would be a natural landing spot for some of the DPs.
Oh really... 'cause there is a ton of people doing exactly that all over BS. They clearly need to start enforcing this "TOS" if it really exists.
El Paso is one of those markets that could become interesting to MLS in 10-15 years. The league is probably first going to focus on NY2, and establishing this crop of expansion teams. Then I think the Southwest may be the next region where they can make big gains, by capitalizing on the huge Mexican-American population. El Paso is obviously the Mexican-American city, being right on the border. I think a good academy set-up would be an excellent way of gaining the support of the local community, who could come out and watch local talent perform at a high level. Obviously there are a number of other cities that would probably get a look before El Paso (San Antonio, Phoenix, San Diego, Las Vegas etc.), but I think it could offer something by being the only game in town - instead of competing with existing major franchises in other cities.
no it doesn't. you raised the question leading with a piece of information which has nothing to do with said question.
Tronx, DP would make it a draw, and yes, El Paso enjoys its winners (why there are so many Dallas Cowboys fans around). But with Salgado's pick, there is a sense of an opportunity lost along the way. The Patriots are culpable in this, but the city has also not understood what it has. With all the talk over the years about downtown arenas, it remains a mystery why El Paso doesn't see the same potential in soccer (and corresponding soccer stadium) that cities like Vancouver and Portland see. Those are pretty progressive cities (so maybe I'm answering my own question). You're also right about the talent. Cervantes gets credit for recognizing El Paso kids can play the sport well. The Patriots have always been a showcase for this, as was the case even when the team played A-League. They needed a saltier lineup, but always competed decently with a roster made up mainly of El Pasoans. Kids here really need to expand their experience and horizons by traveling the way Salgado did with his dad. I always remembered the Patriots having real problems on some of those long road trips to the Northwest. The road helps to get the exposure, but not every kid has parents with the bucks to be part of a traveling club. It's hard. How would Salgado's predecessors like Mike Griego (tall target forward with a nose for the net) and others have fared with more eyes on El Paso talent? Patriots and the city has failed a bit, here, though the city doesn't know it.
It's been awhile, but yes. Mid-1990's the team beat the A-League's Seattle and Colorado on its way to the Open Cup Final becoming the first pro (okay, semi-pro) team in the championship game. Technically, they were part of a third division that allowed more paid pros, while Richmond was very much a PDL team. That was top o' the US soccer world at the time.
To be fair to RaveGreen, many posters have slammed a certain Seattle supporter for doing the same thing. Turnabout is fair play.
Everybody dreams of what they'd do with a bazillion dollars. Even though I have no connection with El Paso, one thing I imagined if I were to be so benevolent, would be to build for them a stadium like the University of Phoenix Stadium (but smaller, of course) with a pull-out natural grass pitch, and every fan would be air-conditioned during the hottest part of the summer.
to go along with the idea of El Paso linking up with a club south of the border it appears that it has already been done, according to wikipedia they are now called Chivas El Paso Patriots (which actually makes chivas USA not all that bad of a name)
A couple of things...Cervantes has done a great job of providing a place for 18+ year olds to play, but that doesn't help get these kids get seen by colleges or scouts until it's almost too late. Yes, the Patriots have a youth program, but they are hardly ever the best team in their age group. Teams from El Paso have always traveled, but now it seems like they are going to some of the better tournaments and FINALLY going to "Showcase" tournaments. It's not the players or coaches fault, but in the past nobody knew better as to which tournaments to play to maximize exposure. Now there are teams going to the Disney Showcase, Surf Cup, etc. Every player could always get more exposure. In Mike's instance, he played in the Puma Cup (Nationwide all star weekend) and I believe won the golden boot there. He also played at some level with the Houston Texans. This all led him to play at UNLV where he had a pretty decent career along with another El Pasoan, Rob Delgado. So I would say that might got a ton of exposure by playing the Puma Cup and with the Houston Texans.
To be fair 180 of those were in the Club specific forum. He also represents one of the larger outlets in the area and has posted relevant and recent news along with snippets. But who cares. Its a forum. I'd rather a well written article than a PC4TH poll about expansion in Winnipeg and Antarctica.
I remember in the mid 90's, the channel that became Fox Sports Southwest used to air a USISL show at like 2am every Saturday morning. One of the teams they would consistently show was the El Paso Patriots. From the way it looked then, I was sure that they would be an expansion team, at some point. OR, would at least be in the upper eschelons of the A-League. A Rochester, for the southwest. Of course, this was the same time I was going to Taft Stadium to watch the Oklahoma City Slickers play! lol Me, and about 100 other people. At least the owners of the Patriots had a LITTLE more vison than the doctor who owned the Slickers. They went belly up a long time agao. Siiiiiiiigh :-(