William Mancebo/Tri-City Voice (Fremont, Calif.)

It goes without saying that International soccer -- whether on the club or national level -- is a better quality of play than what we have here in the United States.

But in the United States, as a whole, fans are assumed to have very little interest in the sport. Well, if you were at Candlestick Park in San Francisco last night for the "Night of Champions" double header (featuring reigning MLS Cup winner Columbus Crew vs. San Jose Earthquakes and reigning UEFA Champions League winners FC Barcelona vs. Chivas Guadelajara), you come to the realization that Americans do indeed like the sport -- just not the product of Major League Soccer.

In the opening match featuring the two MLS teams, Candlestick was virtually a ghost town. Then, as the kickoff for the two Internationals, playing in a friendly, neared, the stadium reached a near-capacity crowd.

To be exact, Candlestick Park drew 61,572 fans for the FC Barcelona-Chivas Guadelajara match, which was the largest crowd to see a soccer match in the Bay Area since the 1999 Women's World Cup had just over 73,000 fans fill up Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto to see the U.S. take on Brazil in the semifinals.

And for Barcelona's U.S. tour, which saw them travel to Los Angeles to take on the MLS' Galaxy at the Home Depot Center, as well as Qwest Stadium in Seattle to take on the Sounders of the MLS, they drew 93,137 and 66,848 respectively -- both sellouts. Barcelona, if you were unaware, beat both the Galaxy, 2-1, and the Sounders, 4-0.

William Mancebo/Tri-City Voice (Fremont, Calif.)

Chivas was able to draw the world powerhouse in its final match in their three-city tour on the West Coast, 1-1. In fact, they were the only team to take the lead off Barca in the tour, scoring on a Ramon Morales header off a perfectly-placed cross in the 50th minute.

But, playing like the champion they are, Barcelona fought back to equalize the game when Daniel Alves freed himself on the right wing, and struck a low cross through the box to Bojan Krkic for the goal in the 64th minute.

"I'm disappointed in the fact that we didn't win, but I am so, so, happy, because we played as a team," said Barcelona Head Coach Josep Guardiola. "My consideration of Chivas is high ... They are very dynamic. But we played very, very good."

William Mancebo/Tri-City Voice (Fremont, Calif.)

And while the Barca coach wasn't exactly happy with his side (despite the fact that they didn't lose, and they essentially controlled the entire match, by virtue of possession and quality chances), Chivas Head Coach Francisco Ramirez seemed pleased.

"I was very happy with the functioning of the team," said Ramirez through an interpreter. "The youngsters stepped up, and we were solid in the areas where we had shown difficulty in the regular season."

But regardless of what each coach thought of his team's performance, the only opinion that mattered was that of the fans. With world-class players cluttering the pitch for the second match of the night, the entertainment value was sky high, leaving all the fans thoroughly satisfied as they sat in a minimun of an hour traffic waiting to exit the stadium (something you can't say when the 49ers host a game at Candlestick; and certainly not an MLS game, anywhere).

Moral of the story: soccer is a sexy sport in the United States. But, like all sports to draw attention in the United States, they want to see the best of the best, otherwise they won't be coming out to watch. And, last I checked, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luca Toni won't be sporting MLS jerseys anytime soon. (They'll have to be all washed up, kind of like David Beckham, before that happens.)

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