Birmingham, AL: USA vs. Guatemala WCQ Questions & Answers thread

I lived in Birmingham all my life until I moved five months ago. I'm obviously incredibly familiar with the area, and will be happy to answer any questions anyone may have about the city. I can recommend hotels, restaurants, things to do, etc. Just fire away with the questions and I will find you an answer. I will be back in town for the game for several days and teaming up with all of my Birmingham friends to get together a big tailgate/party from the Birmingham folk to welcome you all with fine southern hospitality!

My first recommendation is this: Don't stay anywhere within walking distance of the stadium. It is in a really crappy part of town.

 

I would recommend the 5 Points South area. Make SURE it's Five Points SOUTH though, because there's a Five Points West, and you don't want to stay there.

I would recommend the following hotels:

Pickwick Place Hotel: 800-255-7304 or 205-933-9555 http://www.pickwickhotel.com

Radisson Birmingham: 205-933-9000

If you fly in (I know you said you're driving, but this is for everyone) you can stay at either of those and have a million restaurants/bars to choose from. There's everything down there: Thai, Indian, Mexican, Japanese, pizza, high end stuff, the chain stuff, etc.

(There's some complete shithole dive across from the Radisson that's really cheap that I can't think of the name of that one of folks still living there would have to find out. That's for the people that don't mind staying in a bare mimimum kind of place.)

It's not that far from the stadium and would be easy to find by car and would be a fairly inexpensive cab ride.

for a bit cheaper if you have a car,

Best Western on University Blvd:

It's still close to 5 Points South, but you'd want a car to get to all the restaurants and stuff.

I looked that up in the phone book, but didn't see it listed. Pvan4, is that still a Best Western by UAB West Campus Fields?

He'll have to check that one for you. It's where all the visiting teams that play UAB Soccer stay.

 

Here's some photos from the 5 Points South area:

 

We'll be organizing. Believe me.

 

If you make it from NO to B'ham in 3 hours, you're a true speed demon

 

True. Homewood is good too.

However, Southside/5 Points South is where you're best dining/entertainment options will be.

 

72,000. It was 81,000, but 9,000 upper deck seats were recently deemed unusable due to structural problems.

Obviously, it's impossible to predict but for previous matches:
Ecuador (friendly) in 2002: 24,000
Tunisia (friendly) in 2000: 21,000

Then there's the totally unrealistic for this game Olympic numbers from '96:
Argentina: 81,000
Tunisia: 50,000+

Overwhelming majority for the US. I'd say over 90% in every case.