Mexican national soccer team to launch tour at Candlestick

Mercury News
By Elliott Almond

The World Cup-bound Mexican national soccer team will launch a six-match U.S. tour Feb. 24 at Candlestick Park.

El Tri will face Bolivia in its buildup for the World Cup in June in South Africa. The club then will meet World Cup qualifier New Zealand on March 3 at the Rose Bowl. New Zealand is led by Simon Elliott, an Earthquakes midfielder who starred at Stanford.

"The U.S. tour allows us to test our squad while giving our fans from all parts of the country the chance to send us off to South Africa," Nestor de la Torre, director of Mexico's national team programs, said in a statement.

Mexican national teams have regularly played at the Oakland Coliseum as part of Major League Soccer's strategy to attract Latino fans. The team drew crowds of more than 46,000 in Oakland last year in matches against Sweden and Nicaragua.

Tickets for the San Francisco match can be purchased at tickets.com or 1-800-225-2277.