Some things never change. Mexico maintained its superiority over the United States by winning its fifth international tournament on American soil in the last four years (U.S. Cup ’96, ’97, ’99 and Gold Cup ’96 and ’98). And once again, Mexico had a decided home-field advantage. The only difference was that this USA-Mexico showdown took place in San Diego (Qualcomm Stadium, affectionately known as the Murph by locals), not Los Angeles (Coliseum or Rose Bowl). While San Diego has produced a number of good American players — beginning with Jeff Duback in the early ’80s and continuing in recent years with Frankie Hejduk and now U-20 standout Steve Cherundolo — it is essentially a Hispanic market. The Sockers were one of the most exciting teams in the NASL, but they couldn’t draw flies and moved indoors. More than 50,000 fans, many of them from across the border, turned out to support Mexico against the United States. MLS just announced tentative plans to host a match involving two Mexican clubs in conjunction with its All-Star Game July 17 in San Diego, a potential home for MLS soccer when the baseball Padres leave the Murph. Organizing a Mexican game isn’t a bad idea if you want to make a quick buck. But it will diminish the stature of the All-Star Game. First of the all, the two Mexican clubs will probably be without their top stars. (Mexico’s summer calendar is full with Copa America and the Confederations Cup.) While MLS will say that it will use the All-Star Game doubleheader as a chance to sell MLS soccer to the local Mexican community — hard to do when you consider that MLS begins the season without one Mexican in the league — adding a meaningless Mexican game just reinforces the notion that San Diego is nothing more than a Mexican market. FANS: LET’S HEAR YOUR VIEW Click here to log onto (Soccer) American Graffiti. Then click on the topic entitled “YOUR VIEW: Another Mexican market” and respond to Paul Kennedy in 200 words or less. Don’t hold nothin’ back! Best responses may be reprinted in Soccer America Magazine. If YOUR View is selected, we’ll send you a cool T-shirt and pin… Because You’re FANATIC.