Unfortunate I wasn't the only one either. Too many people commented that the real fans were more concerned with telling everybody this was their place rather than welcoming and supporting the team.
Besides the lack of unity in the crowd, one thing that ticked me off last night had to do with AllState. Why in the hell does AllState insist on handing those stupid looking blue and white soccer ball hats in the pre-event booths? Honduras is that color as is El Salvador and Guatemala. Why are they handing out a hat with the opposition's colors. If they insist in making a hat at least make the thing pro U.S. Is that too hard to ask AllState? Once again a sponsor of the USMNT that doesn't have a clue. I know that this isn't the first time that they have done this, since they handed them out at both the Centennial match @ RFK and up in Seattle but it didn't seem to stand out because Germany and Panama don't wear blue. But last night they really did stand out. I wanted to rip them off of every single Honduran fan that I saw.
Certainly not the best colored hat to give out given the opponent. I already had my stripes and stars hat on and was asked by the lady in the All-state booth if I wanted one of their hats. I just sort of shook my head in disgust and walked on.
Waaaay to effen pi$sed off about how BAD the supporter's section was (or my trip to SLC!) to dedicate more than a few mins writing this. I'm not blaming the fans as most of them where there to cheer for our boys but ZERO coordination!! The unwritten rule that the local SGs help coordinate to make US Soccer give their stadium/city more important games was non existent or didn't want to see another important game EVER in their city. The local Utah supporters group totally dropped the ball on this one! $hit, I don't think they ever had one to begin with! Seriously... how hard was it to have a few local guys leading chants? After seeing Denver and SEA represent, you'd think they would have really tried out-doing this game! I mean... we couldn't even get the "USA! USA!" chant going!!! That alone, sums up this trip Rant aside.... We're 3 points closer to the WC (which I hope is never hosted at Río Tinto!)
I'm hearing reports that are the opposite. The AO guys weren't willing to work with the RSL supporters, so the chants were never in sync. Add on the fact that the AO group weren't all in the same section thanks to some ticketing problems, and it exacerbated the problem. I was in the north end, and the U-S-A chant was working fine. It was pretty loud to me. Sorry you didn't have a good trip, but the win is all that matters. That's 9 points over 3 qualifiers in Utah, so I hope they come back.
Thought it was fine, i was behind the tattooed angry dudes in black. It was definitely a dynamic i wasn't used to (not knowing MLS supporters groups very well). A bit more angry than I'm used to. They had no interest in coordinating chants with other sections.........HOWEVER, with that said, they sang their hearts out and got in line with whatever song got started elsewhere. 1000% passionate, 0% coordinated. Game was boring, it was hot as hell, was weird uncoordinated supporters section, But damn guys...give them a break. Sold out stadium in hours, 90+% US fans, pitch looked perfect. Train ride was great, night before great, tailgate great. But definitely was a weird vibe in AO section no getting around that. Regardless, I've been to a ton worse stadiums and environments for home WCQ.
We were in section 7, next to the supporters section of AO in the south end. Overall the game experience was 'ok'---we didn't hear much of the negatives mentioned in these threads (such as the 'F***K' chants--until after the game) and the main negatives inside the stadium we experienced were the $5 cups of water (no ice) and the tiniest $7.50 "jumbo hotdog" I've ever seen...But more to the point---we didn't HEAR much at all---because there really was NO coordination of the chants and songs, which frankly, I'd expected some upgrades since the Seattle group was so astoundingly great, all anyone had to do was listen to the recording of that match and use their chants! What was so great about the Seattle match crowd was that the tired "USA" chant---that most of us are sick of---wasn't the only thing they were relying on (at least to my ears)---but in SLC we had trouble getting even that going. The AO pre-game tailgate was fun, but the SLC stadium is kind of a nightmare hodgepodge for parking and getting to/from at least for first-timers. The fans were all pretty friendly at least that we saw--stood the whole game next to a group of Honduran fans from Seattle---had a pretty good-natured back-and-forth to keep them from drowning out our "U-S-A" with "Hon-dur-us" sometimes, and had a great time in the second half when we secured the win.
It's not fair to judge SLC on Seattle, but even compared to Kansas City and Columbus I really feel it fell short. I was pretty livid after the game due to some interactions with US "fans" and the rent a cops at the stadium. After taking a bit to calm down it probably wasn't as bad as those interactions made it seem to me immediately afterwards. Still I have to say that it fell short of the other host cities so far this round, (including Tampa).
game was boring?! i dont know about you but the second half was good! and it was not hot at all! i dont know where you sat but in the south section (AO's) the sun was blocked at the start of the game....
might as well post my experience as well. first time watching professional soccer game (havent seen mls or national). buddy and i drove down. We went to the pep rally monday night, we enjoyed that. Jurgen is pretty down to earth. Monday night we went to the AO bar and that place was hoppin, played some fifa there as well. Saturday we got to the stadium early and went to checkout the AO tailgate in the dirt lot and actually was surprised to see a bunch of honduras fans tailgating. There actually was even alot of Honduras fans in general at this game i thought. Anyways we ended up just staying at the festivities by the stadium. The thing i did notice along with the stupid blue and white all state hats was that the McDonalds booth signage were all spanish and the music playing was as well. Which i am pretty sure this was a home game right?! Anyways come to game time, the field was beyond what you see on the tv. It was simply beautiful. We sat in section 11, row L. The sun was blocked out by the time game started which was nice. It definitely wasn't hot like what someone mentioned but it also wasnt cool just was comfortable in our opinion. I was worried about how many honduras fans there were. There were a ton of them behind us. However most of the fans we encountered were very friendly and even bought us beer. Anyways, it did seem like the AO down right behind the goal were uncoordinated. I was disappointed i didnt get to do chants of yankie doodle or saints go marching in because it didnt travel up to the upper section of the south sections. It seemed like the only chants they did were: i believe that we will win, we are going to brazil, and then you're a p***y (when the honduras players got hurt), or youre an a""hole (when goalie kicked the goal kick). So yes the chants were a bit disappointed compared to even watching the seattle game and was chanting with them thru the TV!! But nonetheless i loved chanting i believe that we will win and we are going to brazil. Seemed like those two were the only two chants that the whole endzone would be coordinated to do so. I was pissed off at the event staff because i had an aisle seat and we kept getting pushed to the stairs and so i would be basically watching it from there (which i didnt mind, better view anyways). and they kept telling me to scoot back. kept missing parts of the game. got to the point where i ignored them. i think i saw you where the tall flags where in the section right behind the goal. i saw the flags at the beginning of the game and then not anymore. overall the game was good, we had alot of chances second half and very glad we saw them score on our goal. the atmosphere the rest of the game was awesome after that goal. the scarfs are the perfect souvenir! yes things could have been better (i.e. the crowd, less honduras, little bit cooler, more goals) but for my first time at soccer game (professional) it was amazing. not perfect but still amazing. i just wish there were more qualifying games that are closer to Boise, ID so i could go to them. SIMPLY because i am addicted now. always have loved soccer and played it but seeing it live at this level is awesome. wish i could go to more......
I was sitting a few rows up from you, and I saw this happen. We needed more flags, not less in the AO section. By the way, a good number of Honduras fans were sitting in the middle or sides of the AO section. I know anyone can purchase a ticket, but come on!
I was watching some replays on my DVR when I got home. I saw a lot of flags at the game. HONDURAN flags! Maybe that's why they thought I was Honduran.
I have a brief video after the US scored. Your flag was one of the more noticeable ones being waved in the center sections of AO.
Interesting criticisms and comments. Much appreciated since I love hearing about match atmospheres and game environments. Jtusa17 mentions there were Honduran fans in the crowd but it did not seem like a Chicago 2009 or DC 2001 situation. It felt on television at least like the US fans outnumbered the Honduras fans by a good majority. It is strange to see all the negativity here but it sounds like it was all warranted. Hopefully people can send these complaints to the supporter group organizers, US FED & stadium head honchos so they can fix these issues come next qualifications. I will say that there are not too many stadiums that could have provided us such a pro-usa atmosphere as Sandy did considering the opponent. Maybe Colorado but that venue was already used for the Costa Rica match.
The Honduran fans were numerous but they were not concentrated. They were spread out through a bunch of different sections.
So 20-30 %? (Those are the numbers I am reading in the RSL threads and here) That can't be undermined and is valuable.
GOOD thing they weren't all grouped into their own section... we might've been in trouble chant-wise...
Is it just me or do Latin American fans not chant and sing very much? Don't get me wrong they are loud and passionate, but I haven't noticed much in the way of coordinated singing etc.