BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- Mexico star Cuauhtemoc Blanco made backward passes without looking, controlled the ball with a stutter-step dribble, used hand signals to communicate and scored a beauty of a goal in his debut with the Chicago Fire on Sunday.
For the fans, it was entertaining. For his teammates, it was a promise of better things ahead for a slumping team, even though he couldn't lead them to a victory.
"He was able to showcase today," Fire forward Calen Carr said after the Fire and Celtic played to 1-1 in Blanco's first game with his new team.
"We saw a lot of his skills, his vision, his creativity. He can open up a game for us. He can be a difference maker for us."
Blanco got around a Celtic defender and then maneuvered past goalkeeper Artur Boruc who'd come out to challenge, giving him a wide open path to the goal. He converted easily for the score 30 minutes into the game, setting off a crowd of 15,719, which was more than 4,000 under capacity.
In the 43rd minute Blanco just missed another score, taking a pass from Carr and driving a left-footed shot that a leaping Boruc knocked away. In the 47th he had another chance for a score but his shot went high.
Not bad for a guy who just practiced with the Fire for the first time on Friday and vowed to improve his English so he and some of his new teammates can communicate better.
"I've always said I'm just another person on the team," Blanco said through a translator. "I'm not God. I'm not superman."
But he is -- or was -- a superstar in Mexico. At age 34 he might not be the same player he was when he was the Mexican league MVP in 2004 and 2005. But he can control play and open up an offense.
"He brings something special to the team," Fire coach Juan Carlos Osorio said. " You notice in 75 percent of the times we got in the attacking third, it was through him that we created the better chances.
"Hopefully he will get fitter and fitter and we'll get more of him in these games to come."
Announced last during pre-game introductions, Blanco turned and raised his hands to the crowd, prompting an ovation. He also got mild applause when jogging out with his new teammates for warmups about 25 minutes before the match was to begin.
And when he left the game in the 58th minute for Thiago, there were more cheers. Blanco clapped back at the crowd as he left the field.
