No one likes to deliver bad news. Except me, of course. I love being the bearer of bad tidings, even if I hate the news I’m delivering.

And so, it is with a scowl on my face but a song in my heart that I come to you with the following pronouncement: San Antonio is a soccer city.

Not The Soccer City, but a soccer city.

This can’t be good news for many sports fans, who consider soccer suspect. To them, it’s a game that can’t go by its real name in America. It is played by the feet of foreigners. And many of its American fans wear scarves non-ironically.

I’m with you on the scarves. As for the rest of it, I’m sorry, although I’m really not. Facts are facts and the fact is soccer, while not superseding football or basketball or baseball, now joins them.

The city hosted four soccer matches over the weekend, and if you were at all of them as I was, you would know this to be true. Tiny crowds which used to show up out of curiosity or civic duty are now larger crowds full of hardcore fans of the game.

A sellout crowd screamed and stomped in unison at Toyota Field on Friday night during a penalty kick near the end of regulation in a San Antonio FC-Oklahoma City Energy FC match.

The Energy missed the kick, but those 8,000 fans left genuinely bent after Oklahoma City was able to sneak in an extra time goal and slither north with a 1-1 tie.

The tie cost SAFC two points in terms of the standings. And while the club remains in second place in the United Soccer League’s Western Conference, a smarter (and angrier) fan base awaits league-leading Real Monarchs SLC, a team that takes the “weird soccer name” thing to heart.

On Saturday, 1,000 soccer fans braved threatening weather for the last game of the San Antonio Athenians SC season, a 3-2 loss to Tigres UANL.

And the crowd, albeit a small one, was a loud one. The Athenians market the team as fan-friendly, allowing the crowd on the field post-game for pictures and handshakes.

On Sunday, impromptu parties broke out all over 100 Montana as 44,232 packed the Alamodome. Fans came ostensibly to see two CONCACAF Gold Cup matches, but let’s lay our barajas on the table: Yes, a few hundred came to see El Salvador, Jamaica, and Curacao, but this was Mexico’s show.

And El Tri did not disappoint.

First, let’s not discount the fan base of San Antonio FC or Athenians. Both have done a good job of showing up for their respective games.

At Toyota Field, two supporter groups anchor the stadium. One, behind the north goal, sings in Spanish and English while the other insults opposing players behind the other net.

“We want the atmosphere to have an edge,” said Tim Holt, San Antonio FC’s managing director. “It’s part of what makes sports exciting and can be advantageous to the home team.”

Over at North East Soccer Field, on the edge of the Blossom Athletic Complex, Athenians draw a small but vocal crowd.

“I feel like we’ve built a pretty amazing following,” said Sue Borst, a team co-owner. “The more they come out and get to know the players, that helps the fans.”

And Sunday at the Alamodome, San Antonio once again got to see the crowd experience that’s the envy of every scarf-loving soccer fan and team owner in America.

There were dozens of Mexico fans dressed outlandishly: lucha libre masks, painted faces, ginormous sombreros and Mexican flag caps. San Antonio crowds are pretty tame in that regard.

Even better, a lot of Mexico fans brought their musical gear. At least six parking lot pep rallies broke out, with fans gathered around guys playing accordions, horns and drums in various configurations. There’s no impromptu jamming at local games, other than some drumming.

And although it wasn’t a large crowd by Mexican national team standards, it was a loud and good-natured one that cheered wildly and even started the wave several times. Locals cheer when they have to, but not in unison as the Mexico fans did.

Make no mistake — the Spurs rule this town and always will. Local soccer, however, has earned a place at the San Antonio sports table by upping its game in the last two years.

But if local teams can figure out a way to generate Mexico-level passion among fans, the sport of foreign feet might one day be able to prop those cleated dogs on the table.

rbragg@express-news.net

Twitter:@roybragg