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. This fall’s game, the fourth in a series that skipped two years because of COVID, will be played Sunday afternoon at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, with the men’s game following a women’s match.
It will also be very different than those that preceded it.
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Because of the work of Nordberg and Jeff Burum, the Strykers’ hyper-aggressive owner, the rosters of the two men’s teams, though largely made up of players from the Major Arena Soccer League, will also include World Cup veterans, former national team players and MLS Cup winners. It’s a bold and expensive step for the league and the club.
The Mexican side will have Marco Fabian, a member of two World Cup teams, Miguel Ponce, another former Mexican international, and reigning league most valuable player Genaro Castillo — provided Castillo’s visa is approved. Both Fabian and Ponce have played in the U.S.-Mexico rivalry outdoors, as has former U.S. international Brek Shea, who will play for the U.S. in the indoor game.
Shea, who also played in England and with five MLS teams before retiring in 2022, will be joined by Marcelo Sarvas, a two-time MLS Cup champion with the Galaxy who recently became a U.S. citizen. Sarvas, who turns 43 next month, played his final MLS game in 2017 but is in negotiations to join Fabian and Ponce with the Strykers when the MASL season begins in November.
“It’s like a routine again. Going to train, teammates, locker room,” Sarvas said. “It’s something that I did my entire life. It’s something that I love.”
Sarvas, who was let go as coach of the Galaxy’s MLS NextPro affiliate a year ago, said a friend brought him out to see some indoor games and he was quickly won over.
“It’s a good game,” he said. “It’s fast, it’s competitive….