Its now listed on www.ussoccerplayers.com June 8th, 2003, Gillette Stadium Should be around a 4PM start with the Revolution v. Burn match to follow at 7PM. Its going to be a great summer.
a perfect day would be a game winning goal by Twellman in the first match and a game winning goal by Moore in the second match.
The order is backwords! This will be a great day, but.... they got the game order backwords. As much as I want the Revs and the MLS to succeed, scheduling the Revs-Burn second is not the best way to attract new fans. After watching the scintillating Dutch-USA match last summer, I recall the disappointment and early exit of the crowd when the second match started. Indeed, the contrast in level of play was striking. I'm sure it's all about national TV scheduling. If the Revs played before the 4:00pm Nats game, then the Maple crowd is left out. Hmmm. Did I just pick a scab? On the other hand, I don't think the contrast will be quite as dramatic this time around- there's simply less at stake.
This will be the first game since all the way back in 1991, when the US played Ireland, that the US will play before a majority non partisan crowd in Foxboro. Andy
Nothing against Portugal's National team but we have had a pretty heavy dose of portuguese teams in recent years at Foxboro. Personally I like variety since it's great to see how fans from different countries support their teams (Ireland comes to mind!). It certainly makes the tailgating experience more interesting! Regardless, I'll be there and I'm sure it will be a great game.
This will be the first game since all the way back in 1991, when the US played Ireland, that the US will play before a majority non partisan crowd in Foxboro. Was at that game and the atmosphere was great. I might consider going to this game if: a) They don't gouge too much on the tickets b) Both teams field "good" teams I know the soccer gods think that New England will only come out to see Portugal play. I would love to see England or France ( do we ever play them?) in here but since Portugal is what's being offered, I guess it will be them or nothing PS - I think the stakes for Portugal are huge. Think about it, first they lose to us in the WC and basically fall apart (again) and now they face the prospect of losing to the US twice in a row. They will HAVE to bring their best possible team and try to win or else they will become the joke of Europe. We on the other hand have nothing to lose. If we do manage to beat them with a revamped team, it bolsters the fact that we're for real and if we lose, we're rebuilding. It's good to be us.
The US played England in Foxboro in 1993. I just realized something about this date. I believe the NTC opens on June 7th and I was planning to go to that. Hopefully I should be able to get back from LA for this game as well. Andy
Before we all get too ahead of ourselves, let’s note that there has not been any announcements to date from the official sources, namely the USSF or the FPF (Federacao Portuguesa de Futebol). I just did a quick scan of the Portuguese sports dailies, and again there is no mention of the game.
well, since portugal is ranked behind us on the fifa site (italy too) and the fact that all of europe knows the u.s. played germany well and could've done better......why would portugal become the "joke of europe". i would think its going to be hard to create a better european joke then the one that france layed out for us at world cup '02...no? well, mexico still ranked ahead of us over there....so what the heck does fifa/coke know anyway? just remember, the portuguese are trying to get friendlies for euro '04, which they are hosting. that's the stage they don't need to be embarrased on. they can go a few different ways they can go when assembling their team. i'd think they're going to be looking for people that can contribute to the '04 cause. although i don't know what that means. since september '02 they've had 4 friendlies (eng:d, tun:d, sco:w, swe:w) and they look to be taking along a mix of veterans and newbies. i wouldn't expect much to be different here. also, it would be nice to see a press release to back-up this listing on the linked calendar. us soccer, portuguese soccer, and fifa don't have it mentioned or listed on their sites from what i can tell.
I don't think so. First of all, Euro's have enough BIG matches, that they clearly appreciate the difference in what a "friendly" represents. (Of course, having lost to us in the WC is something they won't be able to live down for the next 20 years)! Secondly, I believe friendlies are arranged with "handshake" agreements on what kind of teams the countries will bring. It could be our "A" team against theirs, but seeing as how Arena is using 2003 to "freshen the pool", it's likely to be our "B" (MLS only) team against theirs - and I don't think anyone in Europe will care how our "B" does against theirs.
With the European season over, I wouldn't anticipate seeing only MLS players. Euro guys hungry for time in front of Arena will want this game. So you may not see Reyna, O'Brien, or the top YA goalies, if they need a rest, but you could easily see guys playing in Europe who are less of national team regulars invited, like Cherundolo, Barrett, Cannon, Vanney, Berhalter, Hahnemann, Sanneh if he hasn't had much PT, and it could be a good opportunity for potential national teamers abroad like Casey, Gibbs, Onyewu, and Yi to get a chance to show off. I would think that half the squad could be from Europe, frankly.
Pretty simple IMHO: with the Confederations Cup starting on June 18th, my guess is that Arena will use this last game against a quality opponent to prep his squad for the coming tournament. My guess is a mixture of select Euros with the bulk being MLS players. The Magpie
Jeez, I can't believe you're griping about the opponent that you get. At least you GET an opponent. Dallas, a good soccer town, hasn't gotten a USNT game since 1995. I live in Detroit now, and you know they haven't had one in 13 years and I'll be takin' my grandkids to the next one in about 40 years. Someone needs to stop the bias toward DC, Foxboro, and LA.This is completely out of hand. And no, these are not the only places where you can fill a stadium for NT games.
Someone needs to stop the bias toward DC, Foxboro, and LA.This is completely out of hand. And no, these are not the only places where you can fill a stadium for NT games... Hey, don't blame us pal, talk to the Federation. I agree that these matches need to be spread around, but remember that the USSF isn't the only party in play here in terms of organizing friendlies such as this. There's a very large Portuguese population in Massachusetts and the surrounding New England-area, some of whom are quite wealthy, have the connections to help bring a friend such as this to the region. Similar circumstances exist in cities like Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Miami. Personally speaking I'd love to see the Nat's play a game in Detroit at the new Ford Field: The field certianly looks wide enough and the atmosphere would be good against a Major opponent. The Magpie
Gazza, you got to lay off the beer. Detroit hosted a bunch of games in 1994, including the USA-Switzerland draw, with that deadly Wynalda free kick. Damn, time flies...I guess that really was 13 years ago After winning their second straight "treble" in 2006, how does it look for the Revs to repeat in '07, assuming Freddy Adu signs for $50 million at Inter, as the rumor mill is suggesting? By the way, I agree that other places like Detroit should get a few games, but where can they play? Is Tiger Stadium still around? Now that would make a great soccer stadium. Think of Loftus Road (QPR) about twice the size. The problem is, no one in Detroit has stepped up to promote a game. In MLS cities, the Fed knows they can count on the local team to do the promotional/selling to their own fan base, and all they really end up doing is running a few ads in the local papers. In Detroit, there isn't an existing, pre-defined audience for soccer, although if someone got their act together, I don't see why it couldn't be a great soccer town. Tom
The US team has succeeded in no small part thanks to MLS. So USSF is certainly going to be biased to putting games in markets that beneifit the fans AND MORE IMPORTANTLY THE OWNERS that have made MLS a success. Sorry, but that's the breaks.
I agree, these aren't the only places where you can fill a stadium for USA matches. Miami and Seattle are hosting games in the next couple of months for the men and the women will play in Charleston. Seattle, Birmingham, Denver, Miami, Columbus and Kansas City all hosted the US men in 2001-2002. The women played in Charleston, Columbus, San Jose, Chicago, Blaine (Minn), Seattle and Cary (NC) in 2001-2002. Some matches had 30,000-50,000 fans, some matches had less than 10,000-20,000. (Various factors including double-headers, time/day of match, size of venue, etc affect that of course) DC, Foxboro and LA have all had the opportunity to host the Nats several times, but there are other locations getting a chance as well. Could there be more? Absolutely. Does it help to have MLS franchises in host cities to help promote the games (and often their own teams at the same time)? I'm sure it does. MLS has had a lot to do with the recent success of the US Men. Just look at the World Cup and how many current and former MLS players got playing time and scored for the US in their historic run. Maybe the Federation is "rewarding" or "thanking" the owners that are keeping MLS going. Maybe TV markets are affecting the choices... Nielsen Media Research Local Universe Estimates* (US) *Estimates used throughout the 2002-2003 television season which starts on September 21, 2002 http://www.nielsenmedia.com/DMAs.html I hope that in the future as MLS grows and more and more non-fans or casual fans start catching on as the sport grows, we will see matches from coast to coast and just about everywhere in between. Back to the original topic...I would love to see USA v Portugal. Call me a cynic, but I'll wait for the official word from US Soccer before I get too excited.
More importantly, for non-qualifiers the USSF goes wherever it can sell the most tickets. They do that based on who will guarantee them the most revenues.