What does everyone think the crowd make-up in Foxboro will be for the game against El Salvador? I am going to predict right now that the US will be very lucky to have 40% of the fans there. Boston hasn't been pulling in soccer fans like they used to and El Salvador fans are pumped after Panama. There seems to be zero coverage of Qualifying this early. Also with the Olympics, many causual fans aren't paying any attention. I am afraid this will be like the Hondoras WCQ game at RFK in 2001. Everyone going in was predicting strong US support. The venue tried to presell to US fans first. When I got there, 20% of the fans were for the US at best. I am going to say about 35% of the crowd for the US and 65% for El Salvador.
The best comparison is the 11/16/97 hex finale at the old Foxboro, where the US had already qualified and the Salvadorans needed a win + help. At that game the crowd was at least two-thirds pro-US despite the meaninglessness of it for us. I would expect about the same here. The fact that a Revs match follows will help the US. The teams where the US is most commonly outnumbered are Mexico, Jamaica, Guatemala, and Honduras. I don't know if we've ever been outnumbered at an El Sal game that mattered, at least not one I've ever attended.
I am still going to remain a pessimist on this one. By the time of the hex finale in 97 (I was there too) the US had a ton of media behind it at that point. We were already in the World Cup and the team was on a roll. ABC covered the game and were hyping the game frequently. Local papers had stories everyday about the game. Another sad point is that, Boston was drawing much better in 1997 for soccer games (Revs & USA games) then they are now. This story doesn't help: http://sports.bostonherald.com/soccer/view.bg?articleid=40917
Foreign fans definitely have a better incentive/passion for travelling to games, that's for sure. I was at the Honduras game, and they may have had 80% of the crowd in the parking lot, but it was fairly even inside, about 60/40 at best for them. However, they were much louder (as is usual for any country) than the USA fans. That match had great atmosphere, too bad the result wasn't what I hoped. But there was loud cheering whenever either team had the ball toward the end of the game, it was fun to be a fan in that stadium. I am very curious to see the mix once I get up there for this one. I am hoping 60% American, but it is a holiday weekend, and we 'mercans love to go to the beach one last time ......
Anybody have information of ticket sales in general, like how full is the stadium going to be? Regardless of who is rooting for who a capacity crowd has to be good for all involved.
On the other hand, I'd bet that 99% of the Salvadorans who are going to show up have already bought their tickets, while a good number of Americans who are going (myself included) have not yet.
The Boston Herald is reporting that ELS fan support has picked up dramatically since ELS won their opener. ================================================== http://sports.bostonherald.com/soccer/view.bg?articleid=40917 "FOXBORO - International soccer fans can be fickle, allowing losses to extinguish interest in their team and victories to re-ignite their fervor. Revolution general manager Craig Tornberg said El Salvadoran fans recently displayed a great example of this behavior. Their 2-1 World Cup qualifying win over Panama Wednesday has increased local interest in the Sept. 4 match here at Gillette Stadium against the U.S., and ticket sales are picking up again. ``What basically has happened is after Wednesday so much has changed,'' Tornberg said. ``We started off really strong for the U.S.-El Salvador game and then it topped off because they lost 1-0 to Guatemala and then they lost at home to Honduras (in exhibitions). So I'm sure their aficionados were down on the team because it was not performing and probably they were going to lose all their qualifying matches. ``They just changed it on the dime, getting a great result in El Salvador. It was a tight match and the Panamanians came to play. But the Salvadorans stood up to the task and showed a lot of character. Now they are at the top of the table and that's got to turn on the fans.'' " =================================================== Hopefully everyone is taking advantage of the great Midnight Riders ticket offer. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/announcement.php?f=779 My predictions are 43,000 total in attendance, 23k US and 20K ELS, but sounding more like 30 ELS and 13 US. Andy
Bad idea scheduling a WCQ against El Sal in Boston. Also, the game against Grenada should have been played at the Home Depot Center in LA.
So I guess nobody remembers the Gold Cup, then. Almost half of the red pinpoints in the crowd are leftover Ticos from Canada-Costa Rica. This could be ugly.
Let the Sallies show up and outnumber us. Let them be apoplectic after the first completed pass. Let them walk around with their silly headbands, striking menacing poses. Let them whistle through our anthem. We've seen it all before. None of it will constitute a competitive advantage for them. Donovan or Beasley will blow by them in minute 11 and they'll all calm right down. Before you know it, we'll have images of them waiting quietly and sullenly outside their chartered buses before the ten hour ride back to DC. Then we'll pile on to these boards and wonder why it was all such a disaster. Flip, Alex, Superdave, you gonna be there or what?
I actually suppose that a fair argument could be made that it toughens our boys up to get so little home support. Still, it's not what they deserve - I cringe every time I watch a match and they pan to the crowd of badly outnumbered US fans on the teams home soil. Poor Andres Cantor seemed honestly puzzled at the last Honduran/US friendly, saying, "The U.S. have a good team, why are more of their fans not here to cheer for them?" He did note the faithfulness of Sam's Army, though. I wish I was an East Coaster, so I could go and yell myself hoarse - but hopefully, plenty of USMNT fans will represent well.
Poor Andres Cantor seemed honestly puzzled at the last Honduran/US friendly, saying, "The U.S. have a good team, why are more of their fans not here to cheer for them?" He did note the faithfulness of Sam's Army, though. Poor Andres Cantor? The most ignorant and irresponsible force in American soccer? For starters it was a friendly on a Wednesday night in June. I don't know about you, but as a New Englander I prefer other activities midweek to schlepping up route 495 to watch a meaningless one-sided kick-about after sampling homebrews and posing for Andy Mead's fanzine. Hondie in June is not worth the hangover and lack of sleep. Myself? I watched the Brazil-Argentina WCC at a friend's house down the street. My wife and I predicted the correct score and both won forty large in the pool. As a soccer fan I asked myself, Brazil-Argie quallie on the tube down the street or Uncle-Hondie kickaround at atmospheric Gillette?
As a soccer fan, as opposed to a USMNT fan? There's always an excuse about lack of US fan turn out - somehow I'm not surprised that yours was related to your own convenience. It apparently wasn't too much trouble for the Honduran fans to show up. Your random yet unsubstantiated dig at Cantor is duly noted. He probably is ignorant about soccer, considering he seemed to think U.S. fans should actually appear in a stadium to support the team on home soil, friendly or not. As opposed to the knowledgeable and responsible fans who are watching and betting on another soccer match altogether. Obviously you're proud of yourself for your criteria of which games "matter". Sure, that's subjective in that sense - if you set the standard of fandom you can probably manage to meet it.
I'd say 17,000 with 12,000 US and 5,000 ES fans. Noise about 50/50, until the US is up 2-0 and the ES contingent sounds like crickets. We will win every match in this round from now on. The only decent crowd will be in C-bus for Jamaica. The Hex will be as hard as last time however.
Frankly I'm more than content to watch ES, Panama home matches on TV. Jamaica is a real team and I'll be in C-bus. I agree, US fans know which match actually means something. Call me spoiled, but unless it's in my backyard I'm not traveling to a "gimme" match, especially at USSF's inflated estimation of their value. Panama and ES should be $10.00 a pop, just to get people to actually attend. American's have more to choose from than a pathetic match like ES or Panama. As an NFL fan I wouldn't pay to see the Chargers or Cardinals. Don't get me wrong, I'll be screaming at the TV during the ES and Panama matches, but I won't be attending.
we will get at least a healthy Rev crowd as it is a double header-that is 15-17K.So I would guess 20K US-10K Sallies.