The USSF World Cup ticket fiasco was only the latest in a series of fiascos that damaged Sam’s Army type activity. It is a long list but here are a few examples: 1999 Confederations Cup; 7 out of 8 nations at the tournament had FAs that sold tickets to supporters. The USSF declined. 2003 Confederations Cup; USSF tells callers no tickets will be sold by the USSF. The usual outcry followed and the USSF relented, selling tickets to about 40 people for each match. The 1999 and 2003 Women’s World Cup in the US both saw no Sam’s Army tickets being offered for individual US games, either at all or until the last minute when the die-hards had already bought tickets I have already written about the fiasco for the US England march 13 months ago in Chicago (US Supporters tickets offered for sale 5 days after sale opened to general public). For US-Mexico last September, I got my tickets 8 days before the game after waiting anxiously for 2 months. I even called the USSF asking what the reason for the delay was, then wrote a letter when they did not call back. The tickets arrived with a grim form letter telling fans not to use profanity and implied compliance with this would allow US Supporters to get tickets together at future matches. This also means maybe not. The horrors of the 2006 World Cup ticket fiasco have been told over and over again, but keep in mind that the USSF originally announced there would be no Sam’s Army tickets sold for the 2006 World Cup. Some people protested, and the USSF made a new announcement, saying there would be a box to check on the ticket for Sam’s Army but the USSF had no control over location of tickets. Fair enough, but it sure sounded they really did not want to put that box on the form. You can’t blame the whole thing on the USSF but they really don’t seem too keen on having a Sam’s Army in the first place. I have been buying tickets to see my high school football team for 40 years and never had one problem and the team is going to play at Soldier Field in late August for its opening game; hardly a small operation. This is a school, not a sports authority, and fields teams in 15 sports. How hard is it to sell tickets if they can do it? Snake Eyes is right about FIFA seat assignments. The same thing happened in Korea. The first 4 games all category III Americans were all together. For the Germany game we were scattered all over the stadium. Fans moved heaven and earth to get all US fans in Section 1 south, but that only works if the stadium is half empty and stadium security is reasonable, which it was in Korea.
Gotta agree, I thought the USA fan support was awesome, but then yeah I did hang out mostly at the train station area until two hours before the game. We were creative and funny in terms of our costumes, but yeah, our chants are too simplistic and we dont have enough variety. But I was NOT impressed with the Czech fans! They only had one or two songs and were quiet for long stretches. Maybe they felt the whole thing wasn't enough of a challenge (and given the USMNT's display, who can blame them!) but they didn impress me at all. As for USA fans being rude, all the germans I spoke to seemed to love us. (but then they hate the czechs only slightly less than the poles!)
I get the sense that most US fans want to cheer more, beyond the USA chants, but we just don't have other standard cheers that everyone would know. The guy behind me at US-Czech was a Sams Army member, evidence of the lack of grouping of SA. But instead of complaining about FIFA or USSF's ticketing policy, why not have the SA members around the stadium teach the other American fans in their sections the cheers and songs? Logistically it's tough, but certainly if the guy behind me told me and the other people in our section how to cheer we would have been more active, and could have started cheers besides USA. Since SA has no choice but to be separated, we may as well make the most of it and try to include non-SA fans that want to cheer.
I was also at the game, and singing the national anthem was tremendous. It was so loud, it was unreal. German fans in front of us (we were in the top corner) applauded us at the end of the song. For much of the first half, the US fans did very well chanting. The second half was a lot different, but we just couldn't get things together well at all--the game was a huge disappointment by that time. Every time we would try to start something, the Czech team would almost stuff the ball down our throats. I have been to 4 games so far, and the US fans held their own with fans of many other countries. I went to the Mex v. Angola game tonight (wearing a brand new Angola shirt!) and while the stadium was about 90% Mexican ( how did they get over in such numbers?), the Angola team had them very quiet by the end as well. We have got to get over this self-consciousness about being fans of the US. We did just fine. Expecting a great day tomorrow for Italy. Bring them on! The only weird part of the game was when some guy a section ahead of us started screaming at all of us for doing the wave because it was a "Czech" wave (I guess the Czechs started it)--give me a break...
Yes, a lot of us in the Czech corner were dissapointed when the wave kept dying in the US corner (the one with the "glass walls", the one that's usually the away section at Schalke games), quite a few people actually booed and whistled because people weren't participating. It got a lot better after a while though.
I was there, and I've read this whole thread, and I still don't know what point you are trying to make by bringing up this quali. There were more Hondurans than Americans in RFK that day, but the American supporters kept cheering the whole game, simply b/c the US was in it until the end. Wait, I do remember the Hondurans booed our team, and made me cry...it was so hurtful. Why are people so mean?
It's not as poor a country as we tend to think of it (its GNP per capita is actually higher than a number of the new EU states). And its citizens don't need visas for Europe.
ABSOLUTELY! I'm leaving for Kaiserslautern soon... hopefully we can all practice our songs before the match!
Americans have been arriveing over the last few days with the biggest influx startin last night. I just spoke with a ticketless group who plans to represent well at the Fan Fest.
I think we should try singing our patriotic songs more often at matches simply because mostly everyone knows how to sing the them. It would shorten the learning curve for US fans who don't know the other chants/songs. Look at how well the national anthem went as an example of how American fans are able to sing in unison in the stands, provided that they actually know the song.
http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=ap-wcup-italy-us&prov=ap&type=lgns "When the whistle blew, the American players went to a corner of the field to salute the thousands of fans in red, white and blue who made a stadium near several U.S. military bases feel like a home field. "They were behind us, in front us, to the side of us. They were everywhere," defender Oguchi Onyewu said. "It definitely lifted us and gave us that extra push." "
Make no mistake though, most of the supporters inside the stadium were travelling from the US or elsewhere in Europe. The military support was wonderful and there was a huge American presence in the town before the match. I met several military members and their families before the game. Many of our ex-pat military also had acquired actual national team gear and not just generic USA stuff which I thought was wonderful. But once you got in the match, it was Americans from all over the world. Banners representing MLS, USL-1, and youth clubs from all over the US. We didn't dominate this match in the stands because it was so close to our military bases. We dominated it because Americans from 10 miles and 10,000 miles away from Kaiserslautern came together behind this team. Just awe inspiring to be a part of it.
Great job with the National Anthem as well. It seems like which side can sing louder is now part of the fans vs. fans contest, and we won hands-down yesterday. Keep it up for Ghana! Oh yeah, and the new jersey-color wearing rule is: Wear only Red White or Blue and yell loud as s*** all game.
that was indeed a bad day... pair that with the 1997 Jamaica qualifier and I can see why RFK no longer hosts qualifiers. sad but necessary.
Just back from Gemany. Went to both games. First: To the AP writer and whoever believed it, check the K-town game. Major reason for the difference was that in K-town the US supporters seemed more physically placed as a single group. Sure there were pockets everywhere, which was great, but having a real center was a major factor. This did not seem to be the case in Gels. I was inside a glassed in section that really made it hard to feel like part of the stadium, and was surrounded by neutrals. Of course, the effort from the team and flow of the game helped a lot too. If you are going to the Ghana game -- the team feels your love, let it rip all game long.
I had a few friends over and had the game on the surround sound, we could hear the US fans loud and clear in Lexington! My neighbor stopped by(he had been invited but I didnt figure he would show) and said he could hear the bulls&@% in his house...then I realized he meant the fans chanting it in K-town and my house. So he stayed to help out.