they cant really have a short camp. the match is on a wednesday and all the major european leagues have matches scheduled for the weekend before. a player who plays in england for instance will have a match saturday and then have to fly out saturday night or sunday morning.
Taking a quick look at some of the fixtures the weekend before the Mexico match for a few of the players we assume will be in the squad. Tim Howard (Everton) and Clint Dempsey (Fulham) play Saturday. Demarcus Beasley and Mo Edu (Rangers) play Sunday and Jozy Altidore (Villareal) plays Sunday. As you can see, not only will there be matches the weekend before the match, but some of our guys have Sunday matches so there's no way we have a short camp beforehand. The closest thing we'll have to a camp before it is an extension of Camp Cupcake for MLS players and those on break in the Scandanavian leagues.
beasley and edu havent really been playing for rangers, so that shouldnt matter much. howard is a goalie and i dont think it is as big of a strain on goalies.
regardless of the position played or if they are playing, if the team is playing its a safe bet that the players wont leave until after that match
Not necessarily true. The game is more likely to be 8pm local time. They did that in Chicago as well as in DC for the two most recent games. As such, the kick-off on the East Coast will be 11pm at night. The USSF would almost have to start at 8 since a 6pm kick-off would likely force people to leave work early just to get to the stadium on time. It would also rule out the attendance of some US fans as they know that they could be stuck at work or stuck in rush hour traffic. A 7pm kick-off is a possibility, but not as likely. I also pointed out that there is a 3-hour time difference between the east and west. You are forcing players to adapt to even more of a change. It is an absurd problem to add to a team that is playing the top competition in their group. Rangers are not scheduled on the weekend before the 11th. It is possible that a game could be scheduled on that weekend (say a cup game or make-up fixture) but as of right now, there is no guarantee that they will be playing. Beasley just started on Saturday and Edu was on the bench. That means that they have to be at least game ready on that day regardless of whether or not they play. They will still need to travel and then deal with the time difference.
http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/news/story?id=756337&s=mundial&type=story can someone translate - free translations wasnt clear to me I think it says they are saying Rio Tinto for sure! I cant translate thoguh - thanks
I know Columbus is our best home venue, without a doubt. But I think a lot of us on here ( including myself ) are underestimating how great SLC could be. Obviously it will be hard to match what Columbus has done in 2001 and 2005, but SLC had fantastic support for the nats in 2005, and if they happened to get this game, the entire city would get behind the team, and combine that with the amount of travelling fans, it could be just as difficult for mexico to play in SLC. And we could add another venue to a growing list of places mexico cant beat us
I don't have a problem with SLC, except that it isn't Columbus. Columbus is in the Mexicans' heads. It will be cold. It's tradition. This game should not be played anywhere other than Columbus--and frankly, I don't want to play the away leg anywhere other than Azteca.
Or we could have a great venue with great support to beat Honduras or Costa Rica at. If the fans will come out for a lesser opponent then maybe we can play higher profile games in SLC in the future.
we already drew 45000 for costa rica in the WQC hex in 05, and got props from the national team players on the support. Based on the atmosphere for the conference final at rio tinto last month, there is no reason to believe the atmosphere would not be similar, if not better.
and why would that not be able to happen in a 20008 seat stadium that has an established season ticket base?
I'm not saying it can't happen. Just saying that it MUST happen by whatever means that are legal. If RSL ticket holders purchase above their weight (meaning four or five tickets on top of their own seats), then its completely doable. If they just purchase their seats, it leaves around 15000 or so available, not counting the USSoccer pre-sale. Minimum should be 70-30 split and the more lopsided the better.
Having the game in Salt Lake is going to pull a lot of us west coasters that can't really afford to do Columbus. If they confirm its in SLC, I know we'll be roadtripping to the tune of 5 or 6 from Phoenix. The SCB has promised to bring people from LA as well. I'm looking forward to it!
You can say the same for Columbus and the East Coast. New York is a closer to Columbus than LA is to Salt Lake City.
2000-2008 - U.S. home World Cup Qualifiers East of the Mississippi River - 18 West of the Mississippi River - 3 (Kansas City, Salt Lake, Denver)