US National Team Soccer in Pittsburgh?

The U.S. national team continues its campaign to return to the World Cup with a qualifying match tonight against Mexico in Columbus, Ohio. Why Columbus in February? Not just because the weather is inhospitable, but largely because among the major soccer venues in the U.S., Columbus is almost alone in that it has a negligible Latino population. The stands will be filled with Sam's Army, but La Bandera Mexicana - not so much. This is how home field advantage in American national team soccer works: try to play games in the U.S. in cities where fans rooting for the U.S. team outnumber fans rooting for the opponent.

And Pittsburgh? The local Latino community is trivially small, despite some recent successes. Is it small enough to make Heinz Field an attractive venue for US Soccer?

On a related note, this seems an appropriate moment to relate the following recent email:

TSJnews, a Hispanic publishing company based out of Cincinnati, OH, will be launching the first ever Hispanic newspaper in the Pittsburgh area. La Jornada Latina will be a monthly Hispanic newspaper that focuses on the Hispanic community in Pittsburgh as well as National and International content pertinent to the Hispanic reader. La Jornada Latina will be distributed through racks and counter space at over 150 different locations from restaurants, grocery stores, churches, Goodwill Outlets, select Cricket Wireless retail stores, hospitals, clinics, schools, community centers and libraries.

As the Hispanic community emerges in the Pittsburgh area La Jornada Latina will focus on connecting the communities from Washing ton to Butler and Monroeville to Robinson Township.

To learn more about TSJnews and La Jornada Latina check out our website at www.lajornadalatina.com.