Deadline: MONDAY, NOV. 1, 2010

Houston makes a date with the MLS All-Stars game and 70,000 fans at Reliant Stadium…despite its proclaimed love of football.

“I’m sure sex wouldn’t be so rewarding as this World Cup. It’s not that sex isn’t good but the World Cup is every four years and sex is not.”         Ronaldo | Brazilian soccer player, after winning 2002 World Cup.

On July 28, Major League Soccer’s best players will face off against Manchester United (the sport’s most valuable franchise in the world, according to Forbes) right here, in the state where movies like Friday Night Lights are set.

After all these years of being the quintessential American football state, Texas has cracked the door open for European football aka soccer. To be fair, Houston is not necessarily classic Texas, but nonetheless, this is a major breakthrough. It’s a dream come true for local soccer enthusiasts, who have been trying to gain some attention for the sport for years.

The summer’s hottest sports craze arguably kicked off May 13, when Mexico’s national soccer team played Angola at Reliant Stadium. A friend reported she saw the Mexican players being mobbed while shopping at the Galleria, as clamoring fans demanded autographs from the quasi-rock stars. It’s no surprise, either, as our neighbors from south of the border seem to enjoy our mega-sized malls, often making up the bulk of the line at high-end boutiques. You can bet they’ll be first in line for the All-Stars game, too.

But it’s not just a Latin thing. That game also drew a solid homegrown crowd. “When we looked at ticket sales, we saw that there were people from half the states,” says Jamey Rootes, president of the Texans. Also, Houston has a large European community that comes to work in the oil and gas industry. The result? “Houston has proven itself to be a great soccer market,” says Chris Canetti, Chief Operating Officer for Houston’s Dynamos.

Soccer has been sneaking up on us for about fourteen years now, when the Major League Soccer Association was formed. “Fifteen years ago, kids didn’t have a league to look up to. Now they do,” says Canetti. Indeed, more kids play soccer in the U.S. than any other sport. And now, those kids are buying tickets.

Furthermore, the Houston Dynamos have been putting on a pretty good show for the past five years. “We’ve tried to capture that authentic soccer vibe that exists around the globe,” says Canetti. The enthusiasm at Dynamo games is undeniably infectious: there is singing and horns, plenty of pageantry and a sea of orange-clad fans. The kicker, though, is how successful the team has been. “The most important thing is being a winner, and we’ve been successful with that,” observes Canetti.

The All-Stars game may be just the beginning of soccer-mania. With this newly acquired field cred, Houston can proclaim itself among the top soccer cities in the United States. That may be a point for us when the time comes for the FIFA committee to name the hosts of the FIFA World Cup™ in 2018 and 2022. Houston is among 18 candidates put forth by the USA Bid Committee, supported by high-profile names like Brad Pitt, Spike Lee and Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the event the World Cup does come to the U.S., the All-Stars game just might give us the edge we need as a city. “We have the facilities, we have the market…I know that Houston has everything that it takes to handle this kind of event. And also, everyone is friendly, and that makes a big difference,” states Rootes.

As for the rivalry between football and soccer? Well, Houston seems happily engaged in a ménage a trois. “We want to build interest in pro sports, we want pro sports to be viewed positively,” says Rootes, the football man. In other words, the more sports fans come to Houston, the better. Success breeds success.

“There’s nothing bigger than football in Texas. We are never going to be football, but there are a lot of fans who love soccer,” says Canetti. Posh and Beckham have crossed the pond. The bigger challenge is exporting American football to the rest of the world.

DYNAMO EVENTS

DYNAMO GAMES

-July 10, 7:30pm – Dynamo vs. Columbus Crew
-July 15, 7pm – Dynamo vs. Pachuca
-July 18, 7pm – Dynamo vs. Chivas USA / Pachuca vs. Puebla DOUBLEHEADER
-July 21, 7pm – Dynamo vs. Puebla
-July 31, 7:30pm – Dynamo vs. New York Red Bulls
-August 21, 7:30pm – Dynamo vs. Chicago Fire

WORLD CUP EVENTS

-July 6, 1:30pm – Semifinal Viewing Party – Hooters NASA
-July 7, 1:30pm – Semifinal Viewing Party – Hooters Kirby
-July 11, 1:30pm – World Cup Final Viewing Party – Lucky’s Pub

ALL-STAR WEEK EVENTS

-July 24, 7:30am – Dynamo Charities Go for Goal 5K Run
-July 24, 8:30am – Dynamo Diesel Kids Fun Run
-July 24, 6:30pm – Dynamo vs. Crew Viewing Party, Hooters TBA
-July 25 – Soccer Movie Festival, Angelika Film Center
-July 26 – Exclusive AT&T All-Star Kickoff Party & MLS Works Party, Venue
-July 27 – 2010 AT&T All-Star Soccer Jam, Discovery Green
-July 27 – Private AT&T MLS Celebration, Hotel ZaZa
-July 28 – AT&T Pre-Game Soccer Celebration
-July 28, 7:30pm – 2010 AT&T MLS All-Star Game, Reliant Stadium
-July 28 – Post-Game Brian Ching Party, House of Blues

By Nadia Michel | Photography by Tom Pennington