MASSACRE WON'T STOP `MASACRE'.

Byline: SCOTT FRENCH SOCCER

TIJUANA - The first thing you see are the riot police, a dozen at least, all in full body armor, with helmets and shields and clubs. There's too often news of soccer violence, in Belgrade and Kiev, Milan and Bucharest. But Tijuana?

It's the final home game Dorados de Tijuana will play, and the policia appear ready for any trouble that might erupt at Estadio CREA, just a five-minute cab ride from the border. Are they expecting trouble?

``No, it's because the mayor is here,'' says a security guard. ``(The club) wants the mayor to feel safe.''

There would seem few safer havens than the 5,000-seat CREA on Sunday afternoon, where Dorados -- nobody seems to like the name, nor the affiliation from which it springs -- takes on Coatzacoalcos in Mexico's Primera Division A, the second tier of pro soccer south of the border.

Most of the 2,000 spread around the lower seats and upper concrete terraces on the CREA's Rio Tijuana side are families. The hardcore fans -- ``Masacre,'' they call themselves; ``We are 'the killers,' chimes one -- are to my right, banging drums, singing songs, hoping in vain for a Tijuana triumph.

Victories have not come often for Dorados this season, and a week earlier they had clinched relegation to the Segundo Division, a mostly semipro league. None among Masacre is pleased with this development, but it hasn't poisoned their passion for their team. After all that's happened, nothing could.

``We love Club Tijuana,'' says Mike Bubvalle, who crosses into Tijuana from Chula Vista for each game. ``We will always come, no matter what.''

Several Masacre fans wear T-shirts emblazoned ``Nosvieron Nacer 98 Masnunca Morir'' -- ``We were born in '98; we will never die'' -- and they consider it something more than a slogan.

They come to CREA armed with homemade flags -- one checkered black and red, others with a red star on a white or black background -- and songs about their club. One, a paean to goalkeeper Jose Guadalupe Martinez, inspires the only meaningful reaction from one of two sets of cheerleaders.

The team had been Nacional de Tijuana since its inception in 1997, but last year it became a farm club of sorts to Dorados de Sinaloa, which plays in the Primera Division, Mexico's top league. Apparently, it's an affiliation of the bad with the worse. As Tijuana stumbles down to the third division, Dorados is on the verge of tumbling into Primera A.

None of the Masacre like Dorados de Sinaloa, and they weren't happy when Tijuana changed its name. The affiliation ends with next weekend's season finale in Monterrey, and the team will be known again as Nacional de Tijuana.

Across the field, above the locker rooms, sits the ``luxury'' boxes. It is there the mayor watches as his city's team falls to 4-10-4 in the Clausura, or spring, season. Diego Olsina's hat trick leads Coatzacoalcos, from a port city southeast of Veracruz (birthplace of Salma Hayek), in a 4-1 romp.

There is little for Dorados fans to cheer, not until Cesar Morales sneaks in a shot at the left post midway through the second half. It's a sunny day with a kind breeze, and defeat can't ruin an otherwise perfect afternoon.

Tickets were $1 and a huge styrofoam cup of beer runs just $4. Children play on the terraces -- a brother and sister, neither older than 6, ride their plastic scooters. Another boy is collecting bottle caps; his brother has a wad of cards, handed out at the gate, promoting a ``freestyle motorcycle international'' next month.

The cheerleaders -- three scantily clad in Tecate colors, four in skin- tight outfits promoting cellular providers Telcel -- don't do much of anything, but there's a crowd of young men and boys at the fence that separates the field from the stands. One, in a Yankees cap, tries to chat up a Telcel blonde. When she ignores him, he films her with his camcorder.

Hawkers offer beer and soda, sweets and nuts, chicken and pork skin, melon and peaches. There are souvenirs -- jerseys and miniballs, caps and stuffed animals -- but nothing celebrating Dorados de Tijuana, nor Nacional de Tijuana. Club America, Chivas, Cruz Azul and Morelia fans can rejoice.

As the clock ticks toward 90 minutes, Masacre's fanaticos are burning their flags.

``No more Dorados,'' one explains, giving the thumbs-down. ``Now is Nacional.'' He smiles, gives the thumbs-up -- he'll begin a new flag, in Nacional colors, before the Apertura begins next fall.

Tijuana is home to 1.2 million people, and there are tens of thousands more across the border who would follow a top-flight team in Tijuana. The Masacre believes the region would support a Primera Division club, but they're realists. Beisbol has always been No. 1 in Baja, and CREA isn't much bigger than most high school stadiums.

``Maybe if they build a stadium, if someone pays some money,'' Bubvalle suggests. ``Hey, have you got some money?''

No, and neither does the security guard, who shares Masacre's dream.

``If someone put their minds together, put their money together, it could happen,'' he says. ``This city is not 100 percent futbol. It's not 100 percent beisbol. It's not 100 percent basketball. It's a little of all.

``But it's a big city.''

--BOUND FOR THE HALL: The National Soccer Hall of Fame's Class of 2006 will be announced Sunday, and there seems little doubt Alexi Lalas, the Galaxy's new president and general manager, will be among the chosen few.

The other no-brainer should be longtime U.S. women's national team captain Carla Overbeck, and it would be nice to see former U.S. World Cup stars Thomas Dooley, Hugo Perez and Peter Vermes honored, too.

We're hoping to see Bruce Murray -- a great guy, and a greater quote -- get the call, too. Murray, a forward with the U.S. national team from 1985 to 1991, once was the Nats' all-time goals leader (with 21), but he's fallen to fifth, behind Eric Wynalda (34), Brian McBride (29), Landon Donovan (25) and Joe-Max Moore (24).

--No love: Ready for AC Milan-Barcelona? If you don't have ESPN Deportes, you'll need to find a restaurant or bar that's showing today's UEFA Champions League semifinal showdown.

ESPN, with which soccer aficionados have long cultivated a love/hate relationship, can only show one Champions League game per week, and Wednesday's Arsenal-Villarreal semifinal got the nod.

--Spot kicks: Chelsea needs just one more point to win its second successive English Premier League title after a 3-0 romp Monday over Everton. ... Hamburg's St. Pauli, the Reeperbahn favorite of punks, prostitutes, leftists and intellectuals, couldn't overcome giant Bayern Munich in the German Cup semifinals in front of a packed Millerntor stadium. The ``Pirates,'' who play in the third-tier Regionalligen, upset Bundesliga clubs Hertha Berlin and Werder Bremen en route to the final four. Bayern won 3-0 and will face Eintracht Frankfurt in the April 29 final. ... France's Nelly Viennot is on target to become the first female on-field official at a World Cup. She's one of 82 finalists for 60 linesman slots in Germany. ... American investment firm Colony Capital and investment bank Morgan Stanley are among three companies purchasing a controlling interest in French powerhouse Paris St. Germain. ... The final six qualifiers for Copa Libertadores' 16-team knockout phase will be determined today, Wednesday and Thursday. Already through: Guadalajara, Brazil's Goias, Palmeiras and Sao Paulo, Argentina's Estudiantes and Velez Sarsfield, Colombia's Atletico Nacional and Independiente Santa Fe, Ecuador's LDU Quito and Paraguay's Libertad. ... FIFA's 2005 profit was $164.9 million, $43.2 million more than it made in 2004.