According to this: http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1701852/us-play-nigeria-final-match-world-cup?cc=5901 the first game will be at Stanford Stadium on May 27. Not confirmed, but the article says multiple sources, so this NorCal fan is hoping it's true.
curious why RBA. the send off game in philly proved you can get 40K plus for this type of match. not saying it has to be in philly again, but why pick a place than holds <25K?
Good question. Philly does seem to be getting the short end of the stick the last couple years when it comes to US National team games.
Sucks that it's a Tuesday. I'm moving to Monterey in late April/early May, gonna be tough to make that trip on a weeknight though.
Well since that send off match in Philly, the USMNT has been back twice including the least attended game since the last World Cup when the friendly against Columbia had just over 8K. I know people are not always excited for friendlies but that is pretty bad. Even the Mexico friendly just got over 30k. I am not surprised with RBA as it puts the team in the biggest media market where it can really push the build up for the World Cup. Appearances on Good Morning America, The Today Show, Letterman etc. will be in the cards.
Would playing Spain in a big NFL stadium be that crazy of a pick, seeing that they are holding camp from reports in DC and are talking about playing the likes of lowly Canada.
I meant in the sense of how they held WCQs in smaller stadiums so they could give initial sales to supporters' groups (hence ensuring that fans of the opposing teams wouldn't start grabbing up tickets like they could with a general sale).
I'm very happy to hear that it's at Stanford since I live in San Francisco. I wish it was on a weekend, though.
It's really just a hop-skip-and a jump in California driving terms and we don't get that many USA games up here so it would be well worth it in my opinion. You won't have any traffic going north or south really.
Does anyone from the south bay recommend Cal Train for getting to the Stanford game? I'm off of Capitol Expressway in San Jose.
I'll probably try to make it. I've never been to a US game out west (been to 2 in Columbus and probably 20 or so in Foxboro/Hartford/Meadowlands/Philly/DC/Richmond)
Only question I have is why they are flying to the four corners of the US for these games? If it's not simulating flying in brazil I have no idea.
I like the fact different sets of fans from different corners of the USA will get to the the team before they head off to Brazil.
I am looking forward to a game at Red Bull Arena before making a trek down to Florida. Would people expect a sellout out Palo Alto and a crowd equall to the Turkey send off match in Philly last time? A sellout in JAX would be amazing.
Hard to tell regarding the Palo Alto match. The stadium holds about 50,000, but given that it is apparently a Tuesday night match, I really have no idea what the attendance will be. It seems odd that they are scheduling a match the day after the team comes together.
The 26th is the latest players have to be released by their clubs to the national teams, but a lot of the European teams finish much earlier for example the EPL last day of action is May 11, Germany is May 10, so lots of players will be available way before the 26th. The latest potential USMMNT players would have the latest club match would be the LA-Philly and San Jose-Houston matches on the evening of Sunday, May 25, which are both in California.
You never know... over 44K showed up for the Scotland friendly in 2012. Stadium capacity is close to 70K, maybe they could at least pack the lower bowl. Either way, I really hope the match in JAX vs Nigeria becomes reality.
Good news and bad news ... The good news is ... Yes! Caltrain is highly recommend for this event! Especially since it's a weeknight. Often Caltrain will have a special stop at the Stadium/Embarcadaro for big games but I' not sure they could do that during commute hours. If not, the walk to and from the PA Caltrain is still short and pleasant, especially if you stop along the way for a libation or two. Now the bad news ... Rumor is Stanford has declined the hosting opportunity. Palo Alto and Stanford don't do big Weeknight events.