Not during the first 25+ minutes..... The wheels eventually came off the bus, but I have no regrets about being there. It was a decent game and a great atmosphere. A couple nice chances to tie it back up at 3-3 would have made it even better but quite the good time result notwithstanding.
I've been going to USA v Mexico matches for 17 years and today was the most USA support I've ever seen in Southern California. Still, it was easily 90-10 in favor of Mexico. Pretty good natured though. I only saw a few fights in the stands.
93,000 people. No metal detectors. The few cops I did see were busy shooting the shit with each other after the game. During the game a fellow AO member saw a girl a few feet away take a glass bottle to the face. Thankfully I only had four beer showers. The security at the stadium was bullshit. You'd figure after the violent fights during the last UCLA/USC game, coupled with the beating at Dodger Stadium, the people that operate the Rose Bowl wouldn't have done such a piss poor job. I'm thankful nothing major appeared to have happened. The 1% of jackholes aside (on both sides), everyone else I interacted with today were just cool people out to do what I was doing: having a drink, eating tasty grilled meats, and watching a soccer game.
The people working there were useless lol...22-h? what is that? ...great they dont even know where our seats are. Never even got to my seats. just took 3 random ones and no one ever came to claim them so i got lucky
The people working there were useless lol...22-h? what is that? ...great they dont even know where our seats are. Never even got to my seats. just took 3 random ones and no one ever came to claim them so i got lucky
There was no security whatsoever, but I didn't see anything bad happen, which is a credit to the 90000 Mexican and American fans who watched the game together.
I agree. The workers did not have a clue. I was most disappointed that security allowed the mexican fans who had the yellow GA tickets to sit in the non-GA US supporter section!
Security was piss poor. We got it with full water bottles twice and they did little to stop other debris from being thrown in to the AO section. I've been treated better in third world stadiums than I was at the Rose Bowl. They were woefully unprepared for this game. They ran out of water after 30 minutes, too but kept the beer flowing on a really hot day. In the words of Tim Howard, "it was a ********ing disgrace." Saw two fights in the parking lot after we left. Also, whoever sold their supporters seats to Mexicans can go screw. There a dozen or so green and black shirts in the section. If you want to bitch to the Rose Bowl go here If you want to bitch to CONCACAF go here
I saw one fan being helped out by paramedics with his face bruised and battered...he was wearing Green and blood.
I will be doing that. Security was a disgrace. Disneyland has better security than that. I asked one yellow shirt security why there was just 1 of her. Our English and German friends couldnt believe that fans werent separated. One of our females donated her jersey to a guy who got his head cut by a bottle. As long as fans do not feel safe, we can never grow our numbers.
I think it will take almost a full scale riot at a game before anyone will take proper precautions in this country.
The two MAJOR incidents I saw in the stands were, 1: US fan was hit dead square in the face after the US 2nd goal with a glass bottle from the section above. Had a flap of skin falling off from his eyes, was bleeding everywhere. 2: Girl punched in face & had her nose broken by a guy wearing a sombrero & a white Mexico jersey. Im gonna vent out & rant what I saw on the AOTucson site, but not till everything has been edited. Mexico fans are the scum of the earth. Same with some of the US fans. In particular, the 8 members of Sams Army who were standing on top of the american flag & told a marine to go screw off when he asked them not to stand on the flag. & any fan who drank to much. The group of hots chick at the AO tailgate seemed like as if they were told the bottle of sky vodka was the last in the world. And the chanting between Mexico & US supporters during the tailgate. Thanks for wasting all your ********ing energy by arguing with Mexico supporters. Guess what ur prize is? U all shut the hell up after Mexico scored there 4th goal. As I was told by a professional photographer wearing a Pink Bulls hat, he said it was a disgrace we stopped chanting the last 20 minutes. & I'll save the rest for my rant.
I struck up a conversation with a stranger during dinner at Zane's in HB last night. It came up that I'd been at the Rose Bowl the day before and she wanted to know how it was. Turns out a friend of hers had been consulted for security at the Rose Bowl - not specifically for this event. I mentioned that security there was a farce. According to her, they'd made recommendations on how to improve security, but the Rose Bowl has not done anything because it would cost too much. My guess is that when a fan is killed or brutally beaten ala Dodgers/Giants and they have to pay out on a large civil suit - hint, subpoena the security consultant's whose advice is ignored - then they'll improve things. Until then if I were CONCACAF or USSF I'd be reluctant to reschedule there. Assuming CONCACAF is subject to US Civil law.
My family were immigrants, my wife is from Latin America, and I lived in Latin America for many years, including Mexico. But I recognize that the huge number of Mexican immigrants in this country is a real problem. What happened on Saturday is just a symptom of that problem. The events described in this post are all symptoms of a much larger problem, there are WAY too many Mexican immigrants in this country. Now, before all of you with Mexican heritage start labeling me as a racist, please read on...I believe that there needs to be MORE immigrants from most other Latin American countries. Yes, the US government needs to increase the quotas for immigrants from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, etc. This is and hopefully always will be a nation of immigrants, but this is not Mexico. We cannot have unbalanced and uncontrolled immigration from just one country. Come on, if the situation were the same in most other contries of the world, the government would have the whole g*d d*mn army guarding the border. The US government needs to enforce the immigration laws and really tighten up the border, if not, this is the result, along with the good, we let in the dregs of another society because the immigration is uncontrolled. What happened on Saturday was entirely expected. As such, I did not go to the game even though my wife wanted to go. The reason is that I did not want her first experience at a soccer game to be what I knew would be an unpleasant experience. If it were the USA against any other country, I would have gone, because I think that the USA sporting experience is normally a positive one. I cannot say the same thing about the "Mexican" sporting experience in this country. I have been to many USA-Mexico games in Southern California, so I know what to expect. It is almost always a disgraceful exhibition of the worst part of another culture. This needs to change, and the responsibility lies squarely with the US government. By the way, I have a "Yellow Card" from a Mexican moderator named "TallTowerMan" for "Sock Creation" based on the fact that my wife signed up as a member using the same computer at our house. Neither one of us posted on any Mexican forums but, completely out of the blue, "TallTowerMan" permanently banned her from BigSoccer and gave me a Yellow Card infraction. When I wrote back to him and explained the situation, he refused to do anything. It seems that even BigSoccer will also be taken over by Mexicans soon...This is getting ridiculous.
For those who have recently received their US citizenship and those that just don't know, US citizens do NOT stand on the American flag, and US citizens do not spill beer on the American flag. Further you should not let the American flag touch the floor. If you think any of these will happen, it is best to leave the flag at home. Many other countries' citizens outright disrespect their flag, mexican soccer fans being a great example. Let's not follow their bad example.