Georgia Dome soccer game draws huge crowd

There were three winners in Wednesday’s friendly soccer game between Mexico and Venezuela at the Georgia Dome.

1. Mexico, which won 4-0 on goals from Carlos Vela, Giovani Dos Santos and Omar Arellano.

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Hyosub Shin/hshin@ajc.com

Soccer passion could be felt throughout the Georgia Dome.

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• Gallery: A different kind of futbol at Georgia Dome

2. The 50,000 fans of “El Tri” who turned the Dome and its parking lots into a green, white and red cacophonous celebration of love for their national team with “la cornetas [horns],” “el tambols [drums]” and thundersticks [balloons].

3. Atlanta, which hopes to not only host more of these events, but also be one of the U.S. host sites when its World Cup bid is submitted next year.

“Certainly a crowd of 50,000 for the first game in Atlanta in …ever,” Atlanta Sports Council President Gary Stokan said, “this kind of crowd, on top of the facilities. It’s a tremendous asset to market for a World Cup bid.

“There’s a pent-up demand.”

Before Wednesday’s game, the closest the Mexico national team has come to Georgia was in 2007, when it lost to the U.S. in the Gold Cup in Chicago, a distance of 720 miles from Atlanta.

So, for many fans, it’s been a long time coming. Many of whom came from cities across the South to see their team from the first time: Anderson, S.C., Rockingham, N.C., and Orlando, to name a few.

“It’s important to be here,” Jordan Martinez, 17, of Atlanta, said. “I never get to see them. They are always in L.A. or out West.”

The 51,115 fans that were on hand got a good game, and Atlanta got a glimpse of what soccer in the city could bring, whether as a host site in the World Cup in 2018 or 2022, or as a potential city in the MLS.

“The fact is we’ve had an incredible response from the soccer community throughout the Southeast,” said Dan Courtemanche, senior vice president for marketing and communications for Major League Soccer. “Atlanta was an unknown for the international soccer market. Today validates it as a contender for the World Cup.”

Mexico went ahead 1-0 in the first half when a cross from Dos Santos hit Vela in the thigh and went into the goal. They added two more within the first five minutes of the second half, both by Dos Santos.

Gerardo Torrado niftily spun out of a double team to pass to Dos Santos, who curled in a shot from the right side of the box into the left corner of the goal.

He added another three minutes later and the fourth came on a tap-in by Arellano, off a nice cross by Omar Bravo.

Now, soccer fans in the city and region can turn their attention to next month’s game between Club America, one of Mexico’s most popular teams, and A.C. Milan, one of most popular teams in the world. That game will be July 22 at the Georgia Dome.

“For never having soccer and for this month having so much activity this is a unique situation,” Stokan said. “It’s a huge foundation for the future of soccer in Atlanta.”