Blanco proves to be Fire's best buy on and off the field
To understand what Cuauhtemoc Blanco means to the Chicago Fire on the field, you only need to have seen Saturday's season opener at Real Salt Lake.
In the dying moments of a mediocre game, the star midfielder's strike earned the team a 1-1 tie and a point in the standings.
"The important thing is we didn't lose, and we salvaged a point on the road," Blanco said Tuesday.
To understand what Blanco means off the field, you have to meet him at Gary Elementary School on Chicago's Southwest side.
There to promote his and the team's new sponsor, Best Buy, and offer a stay-in-school message, Blanco was cheered by seventh- and eighth-graders in a school that's 99.3 percent Hispanic.
"It's very, very important," he said afterward through a team translator. "It's good to be in the community with my fellow countrymen, to give them joy. Listening to them cheer the way they cheer, it gives me great joy to hear that. To give a little time, it's a memorable experience."
The Hispanic community plays a significant role in Major League Soccer's plans to fill its new stadiums, and it's especially important in Chicago and its suburbs, both of which are home to a growing number of Hispanics.
David Beckham might attract Anglophiles and non-Hispanic suburban soccer families eager to see Tom Cruise's buddy and Posh Spice's husband, but Blanco's signing as the Fire's Designated Player -- the rule allowing each team to sign one player outside of the league salary restrictions -- targets the Mexican community first and foremost, in Chicago and throughout the country.
To these kids Blanco is a hero. Asked to name four Fire players, they can only name one: Blanco.
"We know that Blanco resonates. Even if you're not necessarily a Chicago Fire fan, you follow his career," said Teresa Iglesias, Best Buy vice president of MultiCultural Initiatives. "People in Mexico follow his career, Best Buy is going into Mexico, so we want to connect with our customers."
Events like these are nice, but they won't have the same effect if Blanco and his teammates don't perform better on the field than they did Saturday, and they know it.
"We didn't play especially well," he said. "All my teammates are conscious of that fact. We're going to work hard to get better."
It's a simple prescription, really: "Control possession more and create more opportunities to score," he said.
They will have to be much better for Thursday night's home opener against New England, the team that eliminated the Fire from last season's playoffs. New England looked powerful in defeating defending league champion Houston 3-0 last weekend.
"Now for our first home game we have to play our hearts out for the fans and get 3 points," Blanco said.
Next week: A few members of the media got a chance to sit down with new Fire owner Andrew Hauptman on Monday night and talk about the team and MLS. We'll save that for April 9, but here's what Cuauhtemoc Blanco had to say about his new boss:
"He's a good person. He's a young person, a young professional. He will do good things for the sport as his ownership of the team develops. It's a positive thing. He will bring young blood to the sport."