WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : Crowd at Cotton Bowl Orderly, if Not a Sellout
OK, so it wasn’t Streisand.
An hour before first boot, outside Gate 2 at the Cotton Bowl, 18-year-old Tommy Ray held up a ticket for Friday’s World Cup first-round game between Spain and South Korea.
It was Charlie Derrisaw’s fault. Three weeks ago Ray and a buddy, Cody Moore, purchased three tickets for $30 each. All had planned to make the five-hour drive up from Galveston; three unabashed soccer geeks with Texas drawls.
But Derrisaw bailed out at the last minute, some lame excuse about a make-up exam in order to graduate high school.
“We paid $30, we want $20, but we’ll take $10,” Moore said of the fluid state of ticket negotiations.
There were few inquiries.
Not unexpectedly, Dallas came up short in the attendance game. Friday’s crowd of 56,247 was far short of Cotton Bowl capacity, 63,998.
Yet it was evident by game’s end that Charlie Derrisaw had missed a good time, as 2-2 ties go.
The worst fears of organizers and local police were not realized. The eight-foot high, chain-linked fence that had been erected--then partially disassembled--to protect the players from would-be hooligans, was not needed.
While there were no immediate security figures, Sgt. William Darr of the Dallas Police Department reported the number of incidents was minimal.
“It was very smooth as far as I know,” he said. “And this is how I anticipate the rest of the games will be.”
Of the nine World Cup venues, Dallas has been the most beleaguered. Not only have first-round ticket sales lagged, there was controversy over whether Dallas police had overreacted in erecting the security fence.
“It proved a lot,” Chalese Stachowiak, Dallas venue press officer, said. “It showed the hospitality of the Dallas people, especially the ethnic crowds. There was a lot of security, a lot of eager eyes, but no massive show of force. There were no incidents. You did not see people on the fence.”
Stachowiak hopes that Friday’s game will convince authorities to remove the remaining portion of fence on the field’s east end.
She said Dallas police will meet soon to discuss the possibility.
The only thing approaching an “incident” occurred during the opening ceremony when a fireworks sparkler with a mind of its own grazed the frilly suit of a dancing cowgirl.
The action was on the field. The game became entertainment at the point Spain’s Miguel Nadal received a red-card ejection in the 26th minute, forcing the heavily favored Spaniards to play a man short for the remainder of the game.
The strain finally took hold, as Korea rallied for two goals in the final six minutes to salvage a tie.
Fans for both sides were vocal but not raucous.
“What pleased me most was that they were not cheering at each other, not provoking,” Andreas Herren, a FIFA official, said. “They were just having a good time. It proved to the Dallas police that these are family people, friendly people. They were not intent on rioting.”
Luis Castillo had his doubts. The 40-year-old computer designer and Dallas resident was born in Peru. His soccer roots reach deep. He was expecting the worst.
“I was surprised at the organization,” Castillo said. “The opening ceremonies were wonderful, the security wonderful. We came here to enjoy, not to see things go bad.”
No word whether the Galveston boys ever sold their ticket. But, no doubt, Tommy Ray and Cody Moore got their money’s worth.
They conceded it’s not easy being a soccer fan in Texas, where another kind of football rules. The 17-year-old Moore, a recent high school graduate, said some teased him for playing in a league in Alvin, hometown of baseball great Nolan Ryan.
But Moore plays on as he collects bits of information on his World Cup idols from a the local Spanish television station.
Ray is among Moore’s few soccer converts.
“I thought it was a wimpy sport at first,” Ray said. “Then I played it.”
