By Mike Woitalla
Executive Editor

There were very few people in Mexican soccer who felt Cuauhtemoc Blanco didn’t deserve to be on Mexico’s 2006 World Cup squad.

Unfortunately for Blanco, one of them was Mexico coach Ricardo La Volpe, who took a lot of heat for leaving one of the greatest scorers in Mexican history off the team – especially since he did include in the squad his own son-in-law, Rafael Garcia. That prompted Blanco’s mother, Hortensia, to say, “Let’s see if I can get one of my kids to marry La Volpe’s daughter, too. Three of my boys are still bachelors.”

Since the World Cup, Blanco, 34, has scored in nearly half the games he’s played for Mexican power Club America, which he will leave to join the Chicago Fire in July.

Blanco will become the league’s third Designated Player signing, following David Beckham (Los Angeles) and Claudio Reyna (New York). Blanco scored 25 goals in 95 appearances for Mexico and appeared in the 2002 and 1998 World Cups. He scored more than 150 Mexican league goals. A two-year stint in Spain was plagued by a knee injury he suffered during qualifying play for the 2002 World Cup. He scored nine goals in Mexico’s 1999 Confederations Cup win.

Besides the box office appeal, Blanco’s scoring skills are desperately needed by a Chicago Fire team that has an experienced backline, a dynamic midfield, but is short on strikers. The Fire hasn’t had a player reach the 10-goal mark in a season since 2004. Its two leading scorers of last season, Andy Herron (9 goals) and Nate Jaqua (8), left for Columbus and Los Angeles, respectively. Chris Rolfe scored seven goals in 2006 after a rookie year in 2005 in which he scored eight goals and assisted much more often.

Blanco will be the fourth major Mexican scoring star to come to MLS. Legendary Hugo Sanchez, at age 38, played for Dallas in the inaugural 1996 season. He scored seven goals in 25 regular-season and playoff games. Carlos Hermosillo played for the Los Angeles in 1998-99, notching 19 goals and 16 assists in 43 games. Luis Hernandez spent 2000-01 with Los Angeles and notched 15 goals and 14 assists in 40 games.

When Blanco arrives, he should benefit from plenty of midfield support. There’s Justin Mapp, who is seeing time with the U.S. national team, the Brazilian Thiago, and Honduran Ivan Guerrero — perhaps the league’s top left-sided player. A pair of 34-year-olds, Chris Armas and Diego Gutierrez, man the central midfield and provide the first line of defense for an experience-laden backline.

C.J. Brown and Jim Curtin have more than 350 games between them for the Fire and team up on the backline with third-year Gonzalo Segares, who may be the best of the three. Second-year defender Dasan Robinson started 23 games during his rookie year last season.

CHICAGO PRESEASON ROSTER
Goalkeepers
NO. PLAYER (’06 TEAM)
1 David Mahoney (Chicago Fire)
18 Matt Pickens (Chicago Fire)
40 Nick Noble (West Virginia Univ.)
Defenders
NO. PLAYER (’06 TEAM)
2 C.J. Brown (Chicago Fire)
4 Bakary Soumare (Univ. of Virginia)
5 Jim Curtin (Chicago Fire)
7 Logan Pause (Chicago Fire)
19 Jeff Curtin (Chicago Fire)
25 Gonzalo Segares (Chicago Fire)
27 Jordan Russolillo (Chicago Fire)
32 Dasan Robinson (Chicago Fire)
34 Osei Telesford (Liberty Univ.)
37 Daniel Woolard (Midwestern State Univ.)
38 Erik Hort (Sparta Prague, Czech Republic)
39 Derek Kosek (UIC)
– William Oliveira (W Connection, Trin. & Tobago)
Midfielders
NO. PLAYER (’06 TEAM)
8 Diego Gutierrez (Chicago Fire)
10 Thiago (Chicago Fire)
13 Pascal Bedrossian (Chicago Fire)
14 Chris Armas (Chicago Fire
16 Brian Plotkin (Chicago Fire)
21 Justin Mapp (Chicago Fire)
23 Ivan Guerrero (Chicago Fire)
26 Nate Norman (Univ. of Notre Dame)
30 Mike Banner (SIU-Edwardsville)
31 Floyd Franks (Chicago Fire)
33 Mark Totten (James Madison Univ.)
Forwards
NO. PLAYER (’06 TEAM)
3 Calen Carr (Chicago Fire)
9 Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire)
15 Jerson Monteiro (UAB)
17 Chris Rolfe (Chicago Fire)
– Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Club America, Mexico)