Estadio Corregidora sat dark and silent, the glow from half a dozen security lights the only thing softening the night sky blanketing its 34,000 empty seats.
La Corregidora becomes a city unto itself when Querétaro's soccer team plays at home, with thousands of noisy vendors and fans filling the squat oval stadium and the unpaved parking lots that surround it. It was supposed to be that way Thursday when Los Gallos Blancos, as the team is known, were scheduled to play host to San Luis in a crucial match with playoff implications for both.
Instead, the game was played behind closed doors a 2½-hour drive away in Morelia, a result of sanctions leveled against Querétaro FC after the team's last home match two weeks ago ended in a bloody riot that left 26 people hospitalized.
