The game is on YES channel right now, started @ 9:30 pm.Almost a full house. Eat your heart out Metro Stars.
The big house filled mainly with fans who do not support MLS, will probably lead to many more such super-euro-friendlies. If that is the case, it will make the Metros existence at Giants Stadium even more undesirable because of scheduling conflicts. The Metros will end up being called "Metro Wednesday". On the other hand if the Harrison project goes through, the big houses will mean nothing to the Metros. Even in a direct scheduling conflict. Fact is that there are two different fandoms involved.
The game was nothing spectacular. 0-0 and most of the crowd started jeering and throwing stuff onto the field midway through the 2nd half.
Or they could make this "Euro friendlies" double-headers with MLS matches... I just heard on ManUre's tour they'll be at Giants Stadium on July 20th. On ChampionsWorld.com you can vote for who you'd like to see them play.
If I'm MLS I'm both elated and upset with tonight. Elated because 70,000 fans turned up to see a preseason friendly. Hell the NFL drew 17,000 in Japan last week. Clearly there is a market for soccer. Upset because these fans are not giving me a chance. Funny thing is I watched the game and it was nothing great (not that you expect much in the preseason). MLS is a good brand of ball and some of these folks are just clueless.
They announced a crowd at the game of something like 70,304 or something like that. Don't kill me on the exact number. I was at the game, and other than security being their usual a-hole selves, it was great. GS will never be that hopping for a Metro game, but it was electric to see what it's like when there's 70k people all going nuts. The wave was very loud (though, I hate waves), and the crowd sparkled with flashbulbs everytime Zidane and Luis "Less goals than Agoos at J/K 02" Figo touched the ball. I can't explain what it's like watching Zidane in person. He is simply amazing. TV does not do his skills justice. As for the game, yes it was a draw, but there was a fair amount of action. A lot of balls 90% of the way there- what you'd expect from pre-season. You could tell that both teams weren't operating on full cylinders, but the flashes of brilliance were evident. As far as the "eat your heart out Metro" comment, I am a Metro fan and a season ticket holder (I was at the Open cup game last night in Long Island). I'm not sure what your comment was intended to prove. Is Giant stadium the Bernabeu or the Nou Camp? No. But you weren't playing (btw, enjoy next year w/o Rivaldo and Kluivert after he moves to Newcastle), so pipe down. Would we like to have your players at every game? Yes, but again, it took Barca more than 7 years to become Barca. Metro are trying, MLS is trying, fans are trying. All we can do is show up at the games though. We're not going to become Barca by watching on TV. Would we rather have 70k than 18k? Yes. Does it bother me that euro-losers don't come to the games because they are too busy turning up their noses at us? No.
To me, a lot of it is marketing BALLS... MLS has to have BALLS enough to put the message out there that it is without question on par with the other "Division 1" national leagues out there (Premiership, La Liga, Serie A, etc.), even if, as we all know, it is not. Spreading that message among most "casual" fans, particularly the kind I saw tonight at Giants Stadium, will positively affect their relative embrace of the product. If MLS doesn't have the courage to say its good, and say it with a little bit of attitude, who else will? It of course will come down to money, but in this case you've got to spend some to make some...the message of this league is simply not getting out there...In 2000, $54 billion was spent in braodcast advertising (Bradcast and Cable 2001); with that many messages out there, MLS has got to find ways to compete harder, and more boldly, IMHO, for folks attention, and for an opportunity to shape the message and impression they get of MLS...
Just got home from the game! well not home, im on my laptop in a hotel in penn., i live in richmond Va and made the trek to watch roma, loved them since i was 3 years old!, too bad they couldnt pull off a win, but a draw is better than a loss, i have to say the fans were about 80% rooting for Roma!
Why do all the friendly matches promoted by the Metros get fairly disappointing crowds, but the one friendly I have been to that has been promoted by someone else has a great crowd that surpassed all expectations? Metro marketing is crap, always has been, and needs to change if they want to see more people come out to games.
You have a good point but I do think it has to be tempered a bit. Real and Roma are two of the best supported teams on the planet and also have the ability to draw the casual fan. A club like River Plate from Argentina has big support but nothing like Real or Roma. And they aren't going to draw the casual fan. Heck, it is entirely conceivable you just witnessed a CL semi-final or even a final. Real obviously knows how to get there and Roma has a ton of talent.
I disagree. I thought it was definately a pro Real crowd. In the end though, it was a pro-good match crowd which was good. Great first 30 minutes or so. The last hour was dissapointing.
Was the match shown in Greece? I'd agree the crowd was pro-Real in terms of numbers. There are far more glory hunters.
I was in Section 108 and it was a good mix, but i would say that there were more Real fans there. Anyone who enjoys the sport really had their night last night. The game may have been a 0 - 0 draw, but there were just some amazing touches on the ball. I still believe that Zidane is a great player and his touches were amazing.. great to see a large crowd in a soccer environment. very friendly atmosphere were i was sitting. all in all it was great to get out and see Giants Stadium with superstars and a packed house.
I'm sure there would have been even more fans there if NJ transit had ordered enough busses to take the thousands of car-less Manhattnite fans over to the Stadium in NJ. We showed up at the NY port authority bus terminal 60 minutes before game time and the bus line was over two city blocks long! Had to be 5-10,000 people in line. We said "forget it", since we'll miss half the game waiting...
yeah.. my friend came in that way.. he said that he ended up jumping in car that was going over and gave the guy $20. but he said the same thing, that it was crazy getting over from there.
I showed up @ Port Authority @ 7:00, saw the line for buses (around 3 sides of the building) & freaked out. Ended up grabbing a cab to the stadium w/ 3 others. But, only got there @ halftime (Doh!) Still, pretty intense environment. Def. more Roma supporters, I bought my ticket off one. Zidane, as stated above, was truly amazing. 3 or 4 times he danced around a defender w/ the ball. R. Carlos was great, as well. Everyone in my section was shouting for Montella since he stayed on the field @ halftime. Also, a big F.U. to New Jersey for building Giants stadium in the middle of nowhere. Waiting for the bus was truly a nightmare. And the bag check retrieval system after the game! Just know that the state police showed up to prevent a riot!
That's terrible, yet predictable. Fans were arriving late to the game, and it seemed the stadium was more full for the second half. Apparently the traffic was bad outside the stadium. I don't think they were expecting or prepared for a crowd of this size.
Zidane was worth the price of admission alone. Simply magical vision and touch. Figo had some nice moments, as did Carlos. Bati was a little disappointing, but Tomassi was a force throughout. A very entertaining 0-0 draw, at least until ZZ came out in the 77th minute, then the game kind of died. Still, it was an electric environment. I think MLS should actually be encouraged by the 70K turnout. The love for the game is out there, the market just needs to be tapped. These team have a century head start on MLS in presenting their product (this is Real's centenary anniversary). We are in year 7. We just have to keep working. Roma wasn't built in a day.
I don't now how this is good in anyway for MLS. It is not news that there are hundreds of thousands of fans in the New York area who will support their "home" team, or come and check out the best of the best in the world. The problem is that MLS will never be, and can never be, either of those two things. All this will do is embolden the NJSEA to hold additional soccer events that reduce the demand for and the appeal of MLS. And I don't think the USSF is going to want to get into any additional litigation to try to prevent these kind of matchs from being held.
Therein lies the problem. The NJSEA shoots the foot off its tenant, the Metros, by staging these exhibitions. It also proves that the vast majority of soccer fans in the New York metro area, would rather watch this exhibition, than plop down $10 and see the Metros every other week. Th esurface was awesome...too bad that it will have American football lines on it by the 17th. At least the Metros will get to play on a much better surface fro the remainder of their home games and any playoff matches...as long as the Giants and the Jets don't tear up the pitch. As for the match, dazzling at times, but definitely the type of match the soccer bashers love to write about. Is it me, or is Kevin Stott just about one of the worst referees around? MLS has to suffer through this. BTW, what does Stott, Peter Pedergast, Urs Meier and Hugh Dallas have in common? They all do not know a penalty from their arse. The marketing company, Champions World, did a fantastic job. I cannot wait to see how they do it for ManU next July. I'll be there. Maybe MLS needs to get its marketing arm to join forces with these guys...better promote our league and split the money.
Apparently MLS doesn't want any help. http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/102888424321843.xml