• Submitted by: manso
• Sports
• 06 / 10 / 2011

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Today in uptown Charlotte, thousands of Latin American fans will revel in their true colors for Gold Cup match.

By Franco Ordoñez.charlotteobserver.com. There will be heavy traffic, street closures, and delays throughout uptown today. A part of Mint Street, between Stonewall and Morehead, will be closed from 6 a.m. until midnight for the fan festival.

The Salvadoran cooks at El Pulgarcito on Central Avenue will begin grilling at dawn this morning. The restaurant TVs will be tuned to pregame coverage of the big soccer match between El Salvador and Costa Rica.

Back home in Central America, millions will be huddled around televisions.

But fans in Charlotte can do better: Many will stop by El Pulgarcito to pick up pupusas and other traditional foods for tailgating before tonight's 7p.m. opening match at Bank of America Stadium.

"The restaurant is going to be empty for the actual game," said Josue Saravia, a restaurant manager. "Almost everyone will be at the stadium."

Thousands of local fans from El Salvador, Costa Rica, Cuba and Mexico are taking the day off from work today for the rare opportunity to watch their soccer idols play in Charlotte.

The city will host two key games in this year's Gold Cup, an international tournament that determines the regional champion of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.

"This is better than the Olympics," said Luis Lopez, a Mexican native who will take his wife and three children to the game. "Soccer is our life. I would pay any price to take my family to this game."

Spanish newspapers and radio are dedicating much of their coverage recently to the games. Radio stations like La Raza have been donating jerseys and tickets.

Jorge Medina, co-host of the news show "La Voz de Charlotte" on 1310-AM, said more than half of his callers just want to talk soccer.

"They talk about wanting tickets," he said. "They talk about seeing players in Charlotte. They talk about who's going to win."

Gold Cup organizers picked Charlotte as a location after 63,277 fans showed up last year at the stadium to watch a pre-World Cup exhibition match between Mexico and Iceland.

"That event opened a lot of eyes in the soccer world," said Gabriel Gabor, a spokesman for the Gold Cup. "I wouldn't call Charlotte one of your traditional Hispanic soccer markets. But you saw that there was a true appeal for soccer in the South."

The economic impact of last year's match was about $11.6 million for the local economy, according to the Charlotte Regional Visitor's Authority. More than 60 percent of fans arrived from outside Charlotte.

This year, the impact could be even greater: In addition to an estimated 410,000 people of Mexican descent in North Carolina, there are also nearly 50,000 of Cuban, Costa Rican and Salvadoran origin.

They're flocking to local stores, picking up jerseys, flags, and sombreros.

Marca Personal, a soccer specialty store on Albemarle Road that is also selling game tickets, reported its highest two-day sales in a year last weekend.

Manager Oscar Huerta said he's received calls for tickets from as far as Chicago. On Tuesday, he sold a block of 50 tickets to one man in Florida who is organizing a tour bus to bring fans to the game.

"To see your idols on the field is to feel like you're out there with them playing," Huerta said. "Because you're usually only seeing them on TV."

On Tuesday, Carolina Sanchez and her family drove from Lincolnton for a chance to see the Costa Rican national team practice at UNC Charlotte. She was there with two other Lincolnton families originally from Costa Rica. There were 20 in her group, aged 1 to 63.

Her kids painted their faces in the colors of the Costa Rican flag: blue, white, and red.

The game is about sharing an important piece of Latino culture with their kids, Sanchez said. In Costa Rica, soccer was part of daily life, a source of national pride and a reason for the family to come together often.

"It's not like that here," she said. "So you have to take advantage of these opportunities when you can. Because you don't know if it'll happen again." Staff writer Courtney Ridenhour contributed.

Source: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/06/09/2362131/are-you-ready-for-so...