It is possible this has been mentioned elsewhere, however, I felt this warrants some discussion on its own... With the Expos taking over RFK next year, I am probably correct in assuming that the USA/Panama game will be the last world cup qualifier DC fans will see until 2008. I'd also expect nary a friendly between now and 2007 due to baseball's infield. I realize this is not exactly DCU related, but I for one am sad that a USA v. T&T game won't be a DCU doubleheader next year. I'm even more depressed when I think about the US national team crushing Uruguay in a tune-up before the World Cup in 2006--and how that game will be in Foxboro.
That might be an option if US fans ever bothered to show up in NY I guess people only come out in NY to see Man Utd and Celtic play though
i can't remember the last time the nats played there - maybe '95? I'm sure there'd be a great showing now. But Giants is a crappy soccer stadium.
Fixed your post. Seems to me like there has always been a pretty glaring attendance problem for the USMNT everywhere. The largest crowd this summer was in Chicago right? for the friendly with Poland? And wasnt that MOSTLY poles? God that pissed me off. It always has. Every time we play a HOME GAME in our own country it seems like theres always more VISITING fans. Makes me so mad I damn near knocked a good friend of mine square in the jaw once for rooting for his "home country's" team even though he was born and raised in the United States. Oh yeah.. lets all root for the country our family CAME from. Then the USMNT really WOULD have no fans.
When's the last time we got a qualifier? We've had some frindlies. Last one was in 2002 just before the World Cup vs Jamaica. Yea NY is a very ethnic place, and they will come out faster than the US fans will, but certainly don;t discount a NY game with some freken patriotic advertising.
I believe the US played Mexico there about two or three years ago in the final of some tournament -- the Gold Cup? I can never remember which is which -- and controversy enveloped the game b/c Mexico decided to bring a fourth-rate squad. In fact, I think their coach didn't even show up, letting one of his assistants do it. The US won, and I think FIFA threatened disciplinary action against the dirty Mexicans (I call them dirty in this instance solely because of the poor sportsmanship displayed), though I don't think anything ever came of it. For what it's worth, I think Giants Stadium is a pretty good venue for soccer, but only when the place is full. As for the new venues, obviously I like the HDC, and Columbus is pretty good for a stadium made completely out of aluminum. But my favorite may just be the recently refurbished Soldier Field. That's a great spot to see a game.
I believe you are referring to the last Nike US Cup ever played in 2000. Yes, Mexico brought a club side over and dressed them in Tri-Colors (Pumas, I believe). It was an insult to us fans and the team as the US was finally starting to click a little bit under Arena and wanted a crack at Mexico since at that point Mexico had beaten the US several times in a row. Instead, the pumped up US side got some scrubs.
You're right, the attendance for national team games this year hasn't exactly been stellar, but I think the average is still 21,384 for the year 2004 home games to date. As far as attendance for hexagonal qualifiers, it was quite good in 2001: vs. Mexico in Columbus - 24,624 vs. Costa Rica in Kansas City - 37,319 vs. T & T in Foxboro - 31,211 vs. Honduras in DC - 54,282 vs. Jamaica in Foxboro - 40,483 Hexagonal Average - 37,584 Yes, a significant portion of the crowd at many of these games support the opposition, but the US can attract good home crowds too- the Mexico qualifier in Columbus being a good example, or the Honduras friendly in Seattle before the World Cup (38,534) or Uruguay at RFK right before the World Cup (30,413). I don't remember, but I doubt Ticos outnumbered Yanks at the WCQ in Kansas City either. Likewise, there was significant Jamaican support at Foxboro, but the impression I gathered from the (delayed) tv broadcast was they were still well in the minority. Crowds naturally vary by the opposition, but the USMNT is a pretty solid draw among American soccer fans- plenty of people who don't go to MLS games come out to see the national team.
this could hurt football in dc. the good news is that the expos are the worst team in baseball so unless dc likes to cheer the wrost team in that sport then there should still be a good crowd for dc games. that poland match was great had great atmosphere the pole fans were loud screaming polska just like in poland. the usa fans were loud and both fans were great. usa does have good crowds in most games. the usa needs to play a team like england in the usa and away and make sure becks is at the game then the crowd should be huge.
Being at that game I can most assuredly tell you that there was precious little Tico support at that match.. 8-10k at most for the Ticos..
I have enjoyed the National team playing games in RFK!! I can't remember the last time I missed them play here. But I guess the Panama game will be the last one; once they change the stadium for baseball! Can't wait to see DC United play on the infield next year.....
i was at the US-Jamaica game at giants stadium before the world cup and it was a pretty big crowd. i think it got up to 32,000 or so. and americans were definitely the majority group.
I am sorry - but if a freaking El Salvador fan can drive from Georgia or beyond to RFK you can get your asses in a car and drive to Columbus, Foxboro, or wherever else on the East Coast we play.
Field's not wide enough for FIFA/CONCACAF games (qualifiers, Gold Cup) unless a waiver is agreed upon...which won't happen for Qualifiers. Also, isn't it FieldTurf? Ditto the above for that.
What he said. RFK has gotten way more than its fair share of games over the years, so even though I live in DC, no complaints from me. And honestly, RFK was an away game for the US qualifiers vs. Guatemala (twice), Jamaica, and Honduras. I can't wait to see the "huge" crowd for the Panama match. Give some other locations a chance to show if they can give us homefield advantage.
Not getting WCQ matches at your home stadium would be inconvenient at the most but if you are going to complain about the lack of attendance at US based matches then take a few days and make it a road trip. It's even better to meet new folks and have the common bond of support for the US team. It's great fun really.
Come on people--it's not at all unreasonable for DC fans to be disappointed that RFK will no longer be a major venue for US national team games. What US soccer fan wouldn't like to have frequent USMNT games in his back yard? I agree we've had our share, so it's not an injustice, but RFK was a good venue for the Nats and will be missed by many. It won't stop me from going to Nats games elsewhere on the east coast (I do that already), but it's still another major downer in this totally unredeeming development.
30,659 for Jamaica on a weeknight in '02. The weekend US/Mexico and Ireland/South Africa doubleheader in 2000 drew 45,008.
The thing about all those games was that there were decidedly more Americans than opposition fans in the stands, its just half of our fans are pvssies who can't be bothered to make any noise or stand up and cheer. At the last Guat match i tried to get up and make some noise from near the corner flag but nobody else in my section would have any of it and ppl were yelling for me to sit down and shut up.
More pro-US fans attended the game in KC than any other game in the Hex. The Wednesday night crowd was easily 30k+ US fans. If Jamaica hadn't been all but eliminated, Foxboro would've been a 58k sellout with 18k more Jamaicans.
I'm not sure if this is directed at me, but I'll have you know that my "caps" speak for themselves. I agree with your sentiment. I went to every US home game in the last hex except the one in KC against Costa Rica. I drove up to Foxboro (By MYSELF) in the middle of the week in June to see them play T&T. I was also one of the few US fans to watch the US play whatever piss-ant Caribbean team that starts with a B in Foxboro during a nor'easter. I saw US play Mexico in the freakin' cold in Columbus in February despite the fact that I had a temperature of 101 degrees and missed the first goal because I was puking in the can. Now the point of this thread is that we DC fans will not have the luxury of watching US games LOCALLY any time in the near future (after the game vs. Panama). All the more reason for us to go see this game against Panama--despite the fact that the US should kill the inferior opposition and we may have already advanced yada yada. We DC fans have had it good. Many on these boards believe we've had it good undeservedly. Well, now that's over for the next 4 years.
Actually, the majority of the people in the stadium were Italian. The US game vs Jamaica was a double header with the Metrostars vs AC Milan. Now that's a freken double header....
I think I'll go as far as to say that the US National team will visit RFK for the last time on Oct 10 vs panama... I dont see friendly games at Shea, yankee or SF Giant stadiums let alone WCQ... I dont see US Soccer making the exception for RFK Expos..... Unless US Soccer decides to use Redskin stadium I dont think they will be back to the DC Area for a long time... Giants stadium as an option??? I dont know does US Soccer want to flip the bill to instal grass for just one game???? I dont think they will head over to NJ.. Foxboro is a sure thing but any other stadium along I95 north east for US Soccer it seems like all of a sudden the north east area may be out of WCQ games with the exception of foxboro... CT is not really a good option... Columbus Chicago may pick up the void left by RFK