Post-match: USA - Honduras 2018 World Cup Qualifier (Friday, 3/24) postgame thread [R]

I did notice him... though since he speaks spanish and english he be part of any crew

 

He looks even less happy than usual.

 

This game was a long time coming for our region and our fanbase delivered. We should've had a qualifier like this hosted years ago but US Soccer were waiting for ownership to finish Avaya I guess. Forget the sellout bs. It would've been sold out if they didn't charge so much for tickets. Reminds me of how clubs in the championship have been jacking their tickets up every time Newcastle come to town this season. Anyways, Bay area fans created an awesome home atmosphere for the US tonight that will not soon be forgotten. It was also really cool to get to see Pulisic play live in a competitive match. He is the real deal.

 

Cameron was stretching his quad the whole night. No official word of injury but no surprise that the change was made if you were at the stadium and saw the constant stretching off the ball... probably didn't get caught on camera much.

 

I agree with Goodsie regarding the temporary stands in front of the LOBINA. It made the stadium look more complete even though they were temporary (and extra bonus for not seeing hordes of people more interested in drinks vs. the game).

I know this isn't going to happen as it won't be simple to expand the stadium capacity, but you'd think a good solution could be found for the Ultras or others at that end of the stadium...

 

Well done by the USMNT. I do have to say, however, that Bradley is too error-prone, and Lazy Altidore was invisible for much of the match, and when he had his big moment on a beautiful cross from Pulisic totally screwed the pooch.

 

That was exactly what Lowell & I thought too. It's no coincidence that with 6 goals, none were scored by Jozy.

 

Yes, it's because all of the defenders were trying to cover him, leaving Dempsey open most of the time. Altidore had a good game, he just did the work that rarely gets recognized for what it is. He did botch the cross to him, but 9 times out of 10, the defender plays that out and it never even gets to Altidore. He made a very visible mistake, but most forwards would have flubbed it as he never expected to actually get it.

 

We need to have Bruce give Dom lessons on "how to say nice things about a player who just played very well for you".

Here's Dom's version of the answer that Bruce gave regarding Pulisic's performance.

"Well, he's got a lot to work on, and he knows that as well as we do. But I would give him a passing grade for this game."

 

I rewatched the game last night and paid more attention to Altidore. He had a really good game and I was wrong, connecting well with Dempsey and Pulisic. I guess I'm either biased or it didn't show as brightly the others.

That explained the ratings I was seeing differently. The other one I disagree with is Nagbe and that still stands. Just about every ball went backwards and he was more uncomfortable taking on opponents than just about any other US player.

 

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Bruce said that in the pregame show.

 

Hah, even better. Dom wouldn't dare say anything positive about a player in pregame let alone after a great performance. The goblins would come and get him!

 

Great game and great atmosphere.The Ultras were directly behind the goal...AO was in the Ultras normal spot...really impressive showing three sections full behind the goal. We were in the card stunt area row 9 sec 108...the seats that were not sold had the big cards taped to them. The stunt cards were smaller in plastic bags.

Great friendly vibe in the stadium.

Ballsy move by Arena playing MB and Puli in the middle of a diamond 4-4-2....worked like charm. Pulisic was the catalyst for just about everything positive that happened. Lleget and Pulisic combined really well before he had to leave. The Honduran pinned his ankle with his trailing leg on the tackle....he's very lucky it wasn't broken.

After our second goal it looked like Honduras mentally checked out...

I was hoping Wondo would get a cameo at the end but Brooks went down. I thought it was a head injury .,.never saw him get hit. It turns out They're claiming it had something to do with a sinus infection...weirdest sub I've ever seen....really bum luck for Wondo.

Great showing by Bay Area nats fans...despite the ticket pricing and crappy weather...definitely worthy of getting another game down the road.

 

I saw Danny Hoesen at the game with a few of his friends...

Just wait until new fans sign up for season tickets after that display, only to encounter #DomBall...

 

I wonder if the mostly empty section under the press box (106?) was intentionally unsold to keep capacity under the permitted 18,000? The temp stands on the LOBINA end would presumably increase capacity, since they replaced unticketed standing space with ticketed seat locations, but if they needed to maintain the 18,000 number, blocking off rows on the press box (non-TV) side that would probably be too expensive to sell well would be a way to do that. The press box side never was showing large availability in my Ticketmaster checks last week. The big unsold chunks were on the opposite side, and those areas did get the same taped-on card stunt treatment.

 

That was my guess based on the unsold seats being entire sections, I thought I saw four large sections, two on each side, that were completely empty. That's not people buying tickets and then not showing up because of the rain, so it must have been tickets that were unavailable to keep the capacity under 18k.

At some point they need to push to have over 18k (even if that requires an EIR), whether it's standing room tickets for the LOBINA area so the stands are more full, for special events like this one with temporary seating added, or whatever...

 

So, US Soccer installed a temporary grandstand while leaving perfectly usable seats empty?

 

The temporary stand was erected because the normal usage of that space would not have complied with FIFA's all-seater rules for World Cup qualifiers. This is also why there were benches installed in the terrace at the other end. Otherwise those areas would have had to be cordoned off.

 

In other words, rules getting in the way of common sense once again.

 

TT and Alashe...

Views from the Sideline: USA vs. Honduras

 

Don, that's FIFA. Those guys are top notch... Hey, let's play the world's biggest tourney in the hottest country in the world!

 

Susannah Collins? Is she the replacement for Rachel something? She seemed a little more at ease. Rachel sometimes seemed to be trying a little too hard to be clever or funny, and it was a little uncomfortable to watch sometimes.

 

So it turned out that indeed Cameron had a quad strain before the Honduras match.

Sebastian Lletget has a Lisfranc fracture of the mid-foot and is out 4-6 months. That's so sad.