No, August in Mexico City is one of the better times of year to play there. Temperatures are not high (never are), but more importantly, pollution is relatively low. The worst months are April and May.
Wish the first match was in Mexico, not T&T. If we play too conservatively in T&T and get a draw we could lose in Azteca and come out with one point out of the first two. If the first match was in Azteca and we lost we would play more aggressively in T&T and go for the win. Don't like that at all. It's a set up for "a point on the road is great, you don't know how hard it is excuses." Playing down to our opponent, and then saying it's OK, has that first match written all over it. As said before, better to get points early with matches 7,8,9 looking pretty tough. The two minefields are the first two and 7,8 and 9. Even more reason to go for 3 in T&T. Fingers crossed. Can only hope. The good thing is we have Panama at home for the last match. Gotta like that for insurance purposes. Like our chances obviously, but I don't like the draw. Still 4-0-2 against T&T, Pan & Guat pretty much does it - 14 pts Even 3-1-2 gives us 11 pts (worst case scenerio) with two home matches if we lost in Saprissa and Azteca. Pretty hard to see us not qualifying. Guatamala in Denver! I love it! Let it be so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But on only one of those occasions are we playing the Wednesday game on the road (9/7 @ Guatemala). Coincidentally, the only time we had that in the 2001 hex was the same round, with Honduras playing here and then going down to Costa Rica. Mexico is away two of the three Wednesdays following weekend games, but playing Panama and Trinidad.
One thing that's interesting to me is that our "off-season / in-season" balance has shifted vs. the last round of qualifiers. For instance, assuming Donovan at least gets a lot of reserve time if not first team time at Leverkeusen, we could easily start KaseyBrad Cherundolo-Berhalter-Bocanegra-Vanney Reyna-Convey Donovan-Beasley McBride-Casey Not that this is anyone's first choice, but it's my way of saying that I'm not that worried about the MLS offseason as an issue - a starting lineup full of players should be in midseason form. At the moment, I'm more concerned about the summer games in the MLS offseason, because Donovan, Beasley, and Bocanegra are my first three choices as players I unquestionably want on the field in every important game, and now all three of them are in Europe. However, if any two players in the US system are used to playing year round, it's Donovan and Beasley.
You guys obviously don't understand the size of the central american population in Colorado and the Southwest, especially Guatemalans. Putting the game in a stadium the size of Invesco is asking for another RFK in 2001, especially since fewer US supporters will go out on a Wed. night. Not to mention that it could still snow in late March in the Rockies, and the whole point is for us to have the field in terrific condition because we're the more skilled team. As for altitude, the Guatemalans could always train at Quetzaltenango, which is higher than Denver. Give Columbus Mexico and Guatemala, if need be.
Actually, it happens twice (also 6/8 @ Panama). Also, to correct my earlier post, there are actually four double-headers, not three. What's somewhat fortunate is that both times this happens, our opponent will at least have to fly in from Trinidad. That's a decent distance away. Something else that would've been preferable is if some of our opponents had been forced to play back-to-back games against the US and Mexico. That won't happen. Instead, most of our "travel partners" are among the weaker teams. US Travel Partners* T&T - 4 times Panama - 2 times Guat. - 2 times CR - 0 times Mex. - 0 times *A "travel partner" is the other team that one of our opponents faces during a Wednesday-Saturday pair of games.
It's an unwritten rule (hell it may be written for al I know.) - Kraft gets at least one qualie per round in exchange for not bailing on MLS in its early years. So yeah, Foxboro has to get a game.
Newsflash: It's cold in Foxboro in March. On average, probably colder than Denver. There is no such thing as spring in the Northeast. We go from winter to a winter warmup and then summer sometime in late May/Early June. As for the Ticos in Foxboro, no thanks. I was at the Gold Cup/MLS tripleheader there a couple of summers ago. By far Costa Rica fans outnumbered the ES, USMNT, Revs and Metrostar fans there. There were also three Canadian fans there. Buses and buses from NYC and NJ turned the Massachussets suburbs into a Central American Nation for a day. Drunken CR fans everywhere, what a treat. El Salvador fans on alcohol steriods.
My mistake. I saw on the FIFA website "04/05.06.05" and read it that the game was April 5, not either June 4 or 5. Looking quickly at the schedule now, it seems everybody has two home and two away Wednesday games following weekend games.
I'm pretty positive on it, though the bunching of away dates (two at beginning, two of last three) is a negative. The most winnable away games are in the first rotation through the schedule. I think we can go 6-0-1 and clinch in seven. If we don't, we'll need all ten games. You don't want to need 9 points from Match Days 7-9. I don't think we want to need any more than 3 points from that bunch. So we have to start hot and rip through the first seven so we don't need anything from 8 & 9 away. I think some of the thoughts given here for venues make some sense. It's going to be interesting, as always, to try to schedule for pro-U.S. crowds for some of these. Mexico on a holiday weekend means we're gonna have to go tiny for that game... like Charleston tiny. I don't know what the best theory is for elevation - do we want to go at altitude for our home date immediately after Mexico City or does the science/medical thinking say you're fine for a short stretch (a day or two) at altitude, but spending 4-6 days can take its toll? In my personal experience, it usually hits after about 48 hours, (of course, I'm not an elite athlete, so I'm not entirely relevant as a test case). I'd say we look at travel for the double dates where we're home for the second leg. For Match Day 3, that means we're coming from Mexico City, Guatemala is coming from Guatemala. We can go somewhere like Seattle where the weather isn't great for them and the transportation might not be very straightforward and take a lot out of them, whereas we can charter directly there. The Costa Rica game on June 4, I have no idea where that should go. It's really the lone weekend home match that U.S. Soccer has to make some money on, so they'll probably go big so they can make enough money off it to be careful with other dates. Might make sense to put them back in K.C. Trinidad & Tobago on August 17 could be a good one for HDC. We'd want to stay away from the East Coast with them. Selfishly, I'd think Chicago could be good for Trinidad as well. Dallas, Denver or Albuquerque could get some consideration here as well. This is probably the least sensitive match for geography... you should be in good shape as long as you get off the East Coast. Mexico on Labor Day weekend is tough. There's really not a good place to put them and we definitely don't want to put it in a 60-100,000 seat venue, so I think we look small, like under 20k, maybe even below 15k. Panama at home to wrap things up. October 12 is almost the anniversary of our 6-0 drubbing of them and sending them to RFK might have a bit of a psychological edge, but I think scheduling might be difficult given the new baseball tenant there. The regular season is over by then, but it's going to be tough to get any baseball team to release October dates until late in the summer - I doubt U.S. Soccer sits on the date that long before setting it.
especially at 7:30 at night. so then what game do you put there? AtT least it's a Wed. and not all the day laborers will be able to make it up from NY, Jersey, Long Island if it is indeed Guatemala
Isn't there a push for expansion for the Sounders or some other franchise in Seattle to become an MLS squad. Also, didn't they invest in their facility (Forget what its called, not Safeco but....) for the new generation artificial turf to be installed in order to generate soccer interest in the city.
Lanky - did you see anything in my post about playing Costa Rica? I was referring to Guatemala. Costa Rica would be a different animal. and while plenty of Mexicans made it up to Columbus there last time, in sheer numbers it probably wasn't as large due to stadium size. Most of the day laborers (at least in my neck of the woods) tend to be Guats and Hondurans and Sallies - Mexican taunting to the contrary. There'll still be plenty of Guats there in Foxboro in any case - just not as many as there could be.
Just a thought, what about the facility in Blaine, MN? According to World Stadiums, it seats 12,000. I know there are a lot of Mexicans all over the midwest, but there really isn't anywhere in the country that there aren't a lot of Mexicans. The Twin Cities area would have plenty to offer fans coming in for the weekend as well. The only drawback is that from the picture, it looks like there's a track between the field and the stands. From that perspective, Columbus would be better, having the fans much closer to the field. Selfishly, I'd love it if the Mexico game was there, as I could definitely make the trip up for my first WCQ!
A push, yea. Actual investment, no. And the turf is a negative, not a positive, for WCQ. MLS cities will get games. Especially those that have built stadiums. First of all, there is the infrastructure used to dealing with large events. Secondly, they have smaller capacities, making it easier to block out the opposition's fans. Thirdly, they have made the ultimate commitment and will get repaid for that.
Match Day 3 - Wednesday, March 30 USA vs. Guatemala I'm guessing Columbus Match Day 4 - Saturday or Sunday, June 4 or 5 USA vs. Costa Rica KC, why screw with a good thing? Match Day 6 - Wednesday, August 17 USA vs. Trinidad & Tobago LA HDC--seems like the only spot for LA (and we shouldn't need our foreign-based players to win this one). Match Day 7 - Saturday or Sunday, September 3 or 4 USA vs. Mexico It's funny how fifaworldcup.com predicts that USA will no doubt choose some place freezing to hold this game. Hello? clue? where is it freezing in early September? Alaska...at night, MAYBE! Anyway, I'm guessing the USSF will be greedy and hold this at Foxboro--which means it will be up to US to buy all those tickets fast. Okay, Labor Day in Massachusetts--plan on it! Match Day 10 - Wednesday, October 12 USA vs. Panama The ironic thing about this is that yippie-skippie we can have this game at RFK. The ExpoNationals last home game is on October 2 and pigs will fly before they make the postseason. Therefore, 10 days is plenty to make the field nice for another ass-whuppin.
Sorry. cleansheetbsc's post referenced playing Costa Rica in Foxboro. I was working off that. It's not my day for comprehension, I guess.
Match Day 7 - Saturday or Sunday, September 3 or 4 USA vs. Mexico It's funny how fifaworldcup.com predicts that USA will no doubt choose some place freezing to hold this game. Hello? clue? where is it freezing in early September? Alaska...at night, MAYBE! Anyway, I'm guessing the USSF will be greedy and hold this at Foxboro--which means it will be up to US to buy all those tickets fast. Okay, Labor Day in Massachusetts--plan on it! I agree. The key to any "big numbers game" where making money is involved and home pitch is sacrified is for every one to go all out. Plan on Labor Day being a big venue and plan on getting there with your boys. The WCX will be making it to any game in the east (Mississippi and over) and we'll try to help any one out that needs travel help. The only problem for the WCX is the March Games as the driver/owner (me) will be in Spain. DAMN. Find ways to get the tickets now (sams-Army?) and shut out everyone else. Let the games begin - - I can hardly sleep.
Also, I really believe Dallas gets one and I think it will be Panama, they didn't make it to RFK sooooo.....