It looks to me that, we need a thread for our USMNT. There are so many subjets to be discussed, from Narcissus place and preformance in the Nats, to the coaching position,that I think still open.(don't forget "interim" coach B. Bradley). Last but not least: Why when the Nats played at the south of the country(from South Cal to TX) against any hispanic team or country.They (the Nats) get the feeling that,are playing as visitors and not at home? What can be done?....what should be done? GO USA !!!
Re: (NQR) The USMNT Thread Well, I could say that all of these topics are frequently, exhaustively, and minutely discussed in the "US Men, News and Analysis" board, but the folks who hang out there can be rather rude and dismissive at times, so I don't have a problem with a thread here. In terms of the "away-home-game" phenomenon, I doubt there is anything, short of playing all home games in Minnesota or Idaho that can be done about that. I think it's simply a fact of life that when the United States appropriated the Northern half of Mexico in the mid 19th Century we sort of created this problem for ourselves. Personally, I think it probably makes the Nats tougher to play against at away games than they would otherwise be, so it's a mixed curse.
Re: (NQR) The USMNT Thread We could go to the games. Beats yelling at the TV. Alas tonight I'm with the TV.
Re: (NQR) The USMNT Thread Yelling at the TV. 63,000+ yelling back at me! Seems, especially since it's an indoor stadium, there's plenty of noise coming from plenty of fans of both sides. Time for a beer. F Blanco!!!
Re: (NQR) The USMNT Thread To my fellow Earthquake breatheren, Tonight was amazing!!! Many of you know that I am a SJ transplant and have lived in Phoenix for 16 years now... This was the first time we have had an event like tonight here and man was it awesome! My kids won't sleep tonight, nor will I! Yes, it was pro Mexico, however the US was well represented in the stands as well. I have been trying to relate my days growing up in SJ with soccer matches like tonight and no one here got it. Not any more! Here's to soccer finally growing in Phoenix... Here's to San Jose getting the Quakes back asap Here's to Phoenix getting an MLS team and creating great rivalry... Here's to Mexico being scoreless on US soil this decade!
Better than that, anyone have a DVD-R of the match they can send to me? ESPN Int'l didn't show the game here -- they opted for Germany v Switzerland and England v Spain instead -- and all I got was very brief highlights on SportsCenter tonight.
Re: (NQR) The USMNT Thread I just found this article in ussoccer.com Articles Men's National Team USA's 2-0 Victory Against Mexico Hits New Rating Highs for Soccer ESPN2 & Univision Each See Impressive Numbers and Records Set as USA Improves Home Record Against Mexico to 7-0-1 Since 2000 CHICAGO (Feb. 9, 2007) - Televised soccer hit new rating highs on Wednesday night for the broadcast of the U.S. National Team's 2-0 victory over Mexico on ESPN2 and Univision from University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. For U.S. Soccer, the victory on the field continued the team's dominance of Mexico, but also highlighted the incredible gains the sport is making elsewhere. ESPN2's broadcast was the most-watched U.S. game in the team's history, outside of the World Cup and World Cup qualifiers. The network earned a 0.7 household rating, which translates to 1.1 million viewers and comes on the heels of the network’s impressive 2006 World Cup ratings. Even more impressively, the game averaged a 1.0 rating during the final 15 minutes as the USA iced the victory. On Univision, the match also set records with more than 6 million total viewers. The U.S. victory was the No. 2 most-watched Spanish-language sports cast in history, beating every Super Bowl among Hispanic Adults 18-49, Men 18-49 and Total Viewers. For the entire night, Univision was the second largest broadcast network among all Teens 12-17 with 573,000 viewers (beating ABC, CBS, NBC, CW), the third largest broadcast network among all Adults 18-34 with 2,074,000 viewers (beating CBS, NBC, CW), the fourth largest broadcast network among all Adults 18-49 with 3,617,000 viewers (beating NBC, CW) and the fifth largest broadcast network among all Persons 2+ with 5,931,000 viewers (beating CW). In Los Angeles, the entertainment capital of the world, nearly 1.2 million viewers watched KMEX-TV’s broadcast of the USA's shutout win to make it the highest-rated program of the night beating out “American Idol,” “Lost” and “CSI: NY.” Additionally, the U.S. victory was the No. 1 ranked program in its time period among Men 18-49 in San Francisco and Dallas, and No. 2 in New York and Chicago (again, against competition like "American Idol," "Lost" and "CSI: NY"). The victory for the USA continued the team’s dominance of Mexico this decade. In nine games played outside of Mexico since the year 2000, the USA is 8-0-1 with an incredible nine consecutive shutouts. That total includes the USA’s 2-0 victory against Mexico in the second round of the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan. On Wednesday night, in front of a sold out crowd of 62,462 fans, the USA defeated Mexico 2-0 behind goals from Jimmy Conrad and Landon Donovan. ussoccer.com is the official website of U.S. Soccer, the governing body of soccer in the United States
Re: (NQR) The USMNT Thread That article likely describes some of the definitive reasons why the US plays these games in places along the southwest border. Six months from now, when advertisers are being sought, one of the things that will matter most will be the ratings of past televised games. While the demographic of the viewers is probably not ideal (not a slam of Mexican viewership, just a comment about which potential sponsors might be interested) , the good ratings (a relative desription) will help put future games (not necessarily just against Mexico) on national TV. It's about the money and large numbers of viewers equals money.
I really enjoyed that game! As far as the "home field advantage" thing goes, I'm not concerned for friendlies. For WCQ's, I want the games in Columbus or Birmingham or Anchorage. sjo is right that we need higher ratings and better attendance in order to get better coverage and better TV. It's going to get harder and harder for ESPN/ABC and their advertisers to pretend that soccer isn't a major sport in this country. GO USA!!! QUAKES FOREVER!! - Mark
Except we about about 20 airings of Dick's Sporting Goods giving us the Baseball "It starts all over again next year" thing. Who're they selling to for a US/Mexico soccer match? The Mexican fans?
This is more of "The Sports Establishment" failing to recognize that Soccer is now big time in the USA. Like any large organization, "Dick's Sporting Goods" is not a monolithic entity. Notice that they paid for the naming rights to the Crapids stadium. Notice that they bought advertising during the USA vs. Mexico match. Some of their executives understand that soccer is important. But some of them still don't get it. Also, there are plenty of folks who still think that being a sports fan means being a fan of all sports. That's no longer the case. The "sports" market is highly fractured in this country. People have a lot of entertainment options. Sports fans have a greater tendancy to be fans of just one sport rather than many. Whatever. Our country is making progress. Our US Men's Team is improving. Our soccer audience is growing. MLS has a better TV contract. More companies are investing in MLS and USL. I know that we are often frustrated by TV ads and the crap we see in the newspapers, but we're still making progress. GO USA!!! QUAKES FOREVER!! - Mark
They're selling to ESPN2 viewers, who tend to be fans of multiple sports. That's one of the key demographics MLS/SUM/MNT is going after. The soccer-only fans are either already watching, or never will (Eurosnobs), and there aren't that many of us anyway. But the baseball fans, football fans, etc. are a big untapped market that MLS needs to be truly Major League. And besides, though Dick's Sporting Goods has invested a certain amount in advertising time for the MNT game, and naming rights for Colorado's stadium, they would need to pay their ad production company big buck$ to produce a new version of the ad targeted at soccer, and they'd only be able to use it in a limited number of slots. I think anything that conveys the message that it's OK to like both soccer and baseball is a good thing for the future of soccer in this country.
I just found this article.... http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/6572014 I wonder... when the "Interim Coach" will be remove for an official coach title? Does Sunil still "shopping" around? GO QUAKES!!! LA LUCHA CONTINUA !! GO U.S.A !!
Once again, no ESPN Int'l coverage of any sort, live or tape-delayed, for the two USA matches next week. Bugger.
The USSF's site has both games as being live on ESPN2. Which I think is a travesty that ESPN's international networks -- namely the one broadcasting to Australia and New Zealand -- can take the feed from that, and won't.
You're right. They are both broadcast; on ESPN2. And you're also right that it's a travesty that they don't show them in Oz.
I'd like to see if there are other ESPN Int'l channels that do or do not show the two games next week, before we start singling out the Australian and New Zealand marketplace, for not showing them. With your connections in Japan, do you know if the ESPN Int'l channel over there is showing them? Just as a "for instance" here... And while I'm at it, if anyone could send me a copy of a DVD of each match, that would be much appreciated. Perhaps a trade of some sort can be worked out, even... after all, the AFL season is fast approaching here!
It most certainly is Bill and on top of that time to give the USMNT a break for a while. We're all in Australia hoping the best for the US in the Copa but the AFL does take the higher ground, at least at the moment.
On Australian shores, anyway. And on that note, there's no coverage of either the Copa America nor the CONCACAF Gold Cup here, for that matter. SBS (the network that televised the last World Cup over here) might mention the Copa America in passing, but I'm afraid they'll do their best to pass over any mention of the USMNT, if not discredit Bob Bradley's team completely. In any event, I might have to ask for DVD's of the Gold Cup and Copa America matches involving the USA, in due time. And no, the USMNT never takes a break from our interests.
Do you have foxtel? I would've thought some of the fox sports channels would've had some copa coverage especially the digitall version. I'll see what I can do
Mate, I couldn't live without my Foxtel -- three Fox Sports channels, and all, besides the ESPN Int'l channel. But I'll tell you what... if there was a market screaming out for an overseas ESPN2 channel, it would be sporting-mad Melbourne, that's for sure. I'm not sure if there would be that type of info published as of yet on their site, but if you can find out, more power to you... I would certainly appreciate it.