True, although you'd think that they'd have been in contact with potential sites before the draw (we did know potential game dates beforehand) to minimize the time needed to do this whole process. Just armchair quarterbacking here, though...
More than likely. But if the Friendly against Canada is a huge success with a loud boisterous crowd then maybe they will be tempted to come back for Jamaica match.
Right, but that semifinal round ended on November 19, so it took less than a month for the home fixtures to be set (and announced). This time around, the semifinal round ended on October 16... it's now January and we STILL don't know. Shouldn't be taking this long. Also, this time around, there are no weekend games, which makes it even more difficult to attend because you can't just take a Friday off to get there, and then come home on Sunday. Now you have to take at least a few days off and make more extensive plans, so they should be letting us know sooner to accomodate for the extra effort everyone has to put in to attend - yet 3 months after the teams/dates have been known, still no announcement. It's pretty off-putting IMO.
The only advantage I see to taking this long is that opposing supporters also don't know where the games will be played. If we play in MLS stadiums with good season ticket fan bases then the majority of tickets will be sold by the time opposing fans decide they can go on a Tuesday or Friday night.
So is Chicago basically dead to the USMNT now or what? It seems we're never really in talk for any game. There's a massive soccer following here.
Well, they did go to Chicago for Honduras last cycle, and it was still more of an away game with the Hondurans in the stands. Not as bad as RFK 2001, but still
With Gulati's strategy of hiding from the foreigners in MLS mini stadiums, yes it's probably dead. Bridgeview maybe, but you just can't hide a game in Soldier field. BTW - we won last cycle at Soldier field in front of 55k vs the Hondurans. But we lost when we played them in RFK in 2001.
Chicago too diverse, Soldier Field is too big and Toyota Park too far out in the middle of nowhere. In that order. You can't play many teams in Chicago and hope for a strong home advantage. In this round you might get away with Jamaica and Panama. Certainly not Mexico or Honduras and probably not Costa Rica.
I'm not sure why one would expect a big turnout of Costa Rican fans in Chicago. They aren't a large immigrant group in the US, and there aren't particularly many in the Chicago area. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Rican_American Aside from NY, LA, and South Florida (plus areas within easy driving distance), most stadiums in the US would probably be pretty similar in terms of the number of potential Costa Rican fans.
There's no chance Seattle hosts a game unless they put grass down and they won't do that. Any West Coast games will be at the Home Depot Center. Period. Nobody gets more than one game per qualifying round. My guesses for no particular games: Columbus Kansas City Salt Lake City RFK New York
We need to fix the distribution of games now. In the past 4 cycles here are the game locations with a 400mi day trip radius. Darker the circle, the more games that have been accessible within. Scheduling the following would be a small step towards fixing that problem 3-22 vs Costa Rica in Seattle at C-Link 6-11 - vs Panama in Houston at Reliant 6-18 - vs Honduras in Palo Alto at Stanford 9-10 - vs Mexico in Santa Clara at Buck Shaw 10-11 - vs Jamaica in Portland at JenWeld Plus the weather wouldn't suck.
March 22 game vs. Costa Rica will be at Dick's Sporting Goods Park outside Denver, CO. Gametime 8 pm Mountain Time. FUAEG, you're kidding about wanting to play Honduras and Mexico in California right??
Haha, I didn't even realize you suggested Buck Shaw for the Mexico game!! WHAT? Buck Shaw isn't even fit for MLS - so I guarantee you the MNT has never had it in their top 30 choices for their marquee game. Ever. Wow. Nice map though.
Yea I thought Mexico at Buck Shaw was pretty funny. The Mexico WCQ is like our superbowl, except we get it only once every 4 years. It would be stupid to play it in small stadium, probably the worst professional stadium in the entire country. So what will we do, we'll play it in another small stadium, the second worst stadium in the entire country. Yes Mexico at Buck Shaw is a joke, but then so is Mexico at Columbus. Glad you liked the mapped. Here's an updated version. Denver got blued more, while the west coast got screwed more.
Seriously? Mexico at Columbus is a joke? They bring out the best pro-US support of any place in the country, and they've never lost to Mexico there. That's why they keep getting the game, and should continue to keep getting the game. Why fix what isn't broken? I can't believe how many people are looking for reasons to take that game out of Columbus. Also can't believe someone would make a serious suggestion of anywhere in California as a place for the US to play Mexico in a game that mattered. Especially after it went so well in the Gold Cup final a few years ago.
Well, I was a proponent of trying out Kansas City for Mexico or Portland due to the fact that every cycle it seems like more and more mexicanos sneak into Columbus. That said, I am willing to give them one last try. The Jamaica match was impressive and we should reward them for such a turnout with a match (if not Mexico, Honduras or something.) As for the suggesting a California match for Mexico, can't help him out there. That is kind of silly.
It would be crazy to play Mexico in California and I totally agree with that. Basically any match in this state would be a home match for them. But can we please get at least one match in the most populous state in the country? I literally can't remember the last Hex match we had here (I am sure someone on here will point it out save me the time of looking it up). I am really scared that the Denver game is going to be the furthest west they come. I did a quick price check I estimate it would cost me about 700 bucks for the weekend (and 2 days off)
I wasn't there, but it seemed to me that about 1/3rd of the last qualifier in Columbus was Mexican. They buy a mini-season ticket package to the Crew which gives them the pre-sale rights to tickets. I'd prefer to keep them guessing by putting somewhere else without a substantial Mexico-friendly season ticket holding fanbase and without a huge stadium that offers lots of scalping options (e.g., Portland, KC). Return to Columbus after Mexico fans get weeded out.