CARY -- Carolina RailHawks defender Brad Rusin is looking forward to hosting a near-capacity crowd tonight, even if most of the fans at WakeMed Soccer Park will be cheering against the hometown team.
The RailHawks will take on the Mexico Olympic team in an exhibition match (7 p.m.), pitting them against a team preparing for the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. The Mexican squad also is attempting to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics, and while Carolina coach Martin Rennie said the level and style of play will pose a beneficial challenge for his team, the unique road game atmosphere will offer another.
"I think it does add more energy to the game," Rennie said. "It adds to the atmosphere - to how the players feel. So it brings out excitement as well as enthusiasm."
The team has regularly played in front of hostile road crowds, including the 15,000 fans who throng to PGE Park, home of the Portland Timbers.
But the RailHawks have had much fewer instances of experiencing those crowds at home.
In the franchise's three-year existence, the RailHawks have hosted Mexican clubs Cruz Azul, Monterrey and Tecos along with the Panama national team, matches that drew near-sellout crowds.
Rusin, who played all 90 minutes in last summer's game against Tecos, experienced what it felt like to be a visitor on the RailHawks' home field.
And he said he is ready to embrace it again.
"It's awesome we get those amounts of fans, and just the community and culture of Mexico," Rusin said. "The community up here, obviously there is a large Hispanic community, so it's awesome to play in front of those fans - even though they aren't cheering for us."
But the benefits are not confined to those in the community who will turn out to exhibit their national pride.
Rennie said he would like to continue hosting international teams for other benefits - including those on the field.
"Those games gave us a lot of confidence," Rennie said. "For us, we see those games as chances to work on things, to build ourselves as a team. A chance to defeat those teams."
While the game will play out as a friendly match, Rusin said the atmosphere is going to be far from friendly.
But based on those past experiences, and in preparation for those to come, he said the team is ready to take on a wild, frenzied stadium.
"It might be a little hostile at times," he said. "But you just play the game; you just go through it."
