Carrying deli dinners in plastic foam containers, the New York Red Bulls boarded their team bus late Saturday night headed for home - well, Casa Grande.
If Tucson has its way, they'll return soon.
"I hope we can come back some day," New York star Rafa Marquez said through a translator. "I'm more than happy to come back."
The first-ever MLS Desert Cup was a rousing success, sparking hope that local leaders can convince some of America's premier soccer teams to relocate their training camps from other parts of the state to Tucson. A sellout crowd of 10,097 crammed into Hi Corbett Field for Saturday's showcase match, a 2-2 exhibition draw between the Red Bulls and Sporting Kansas City. Both MLS squads defeated semipro teams Friday.
Not that it mattered. Players said the final score was less important than the welcome they received from a sports-starved crowd.
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"I wasn't expecting anybody in the stadium, to tell you the truth," New York midfielder Dane Richards said Saturday. "When I came in and I saw the crowd, it pumped me up. It pumped us up."
The resulting match exceeded Tucson's modest spring training standards.
The game's three biggest stars, Kansas City's Omar Bravo and New York's Thierry Henry and Marquez, played all 90 minutes. Henry even scored, blasting in a second-chance goal in the 22nd minute to even the match at 1.
Kansas City took the lead on Kei Kamara's second-half penalty kick, only to watch as Richards tied the match in the 76th minute.
The teams decided against settling the match on penalty kicks. Kansas City was awarded the championship trophy based on goal differential. With the MLS teams using reserves, Sporting defeated the Arizona Sahuaros 6-1 while New York managed just a 3-1 win over FC Tucson on Friday.
The real winner during the whirlwind weekend was Marquez, a Mexican soccer legend who joined the MLS last year following a stellar run with FC Barcelona. Fans snapped pictures with their camera-phones every time Marquez touched the ball, and camped out behind the Red Bulls' locker room for more than an hour after the game for a chance to snag an autograph.
Marquez said through a translator that he believes it's "really important" to play in Tucson. The weekend's matches were the first visit to Southern Arizona by MLS teams; they probably won't be the last.
"There's a big Mexican community here, and I believe that - for this area - it's really important to try to get these kinds of events," Marquez said. "Soccer is really important in the life of people here."
