US vs. England or US vs. Costa Rica? Friendly or WCQ? Chicago or Salt Lake City? Which gets my money? For which city and match should I burn vacation hours? My heart tells me Chicago: Where else can I see without jumping the pond the likes of Cole, Neville, Terry, Beckham (doubtful), Lampard, Owen (doubtful), Rooney (doubtful), and possibly Wright-Phillips grace the glorious pitch? Plus I know a bit about the city and know I will have a blast! But my head tells me Salt Lake City: Chicago (vs. England) is ONLY a friendly. Many of the players I would most want to see will likely NOT be there. Salt Lake (vs. Costa Rica) means something. It is a WCQ! Weekend in Chicago: US vs. England, Chicago Fire, Cubs, Cycling Event, plenty of tourist stuff (Navy Pier, live blues and/or jazz, museum, shoreline drive). Have already been to Chicago (for US-Poland friendly). More expensive than SLC. Weekend in Salt Lake: US vs. Costa Rica, Real Salt Lake, perhaps some hiking, tourist stuff? Never been so don't know what else there is to do. Less expensive. Which trip is more worthy?
COSTA RICA. It's a qualifier, too. If you really want to see England (players and supporters) at their best then go to an England match on of our off days in the World Cup in Germany. Although I've never seen England in a friendly, I can attest to the atmosphere at a competitive. The scene in Portugal was phenomenal this summer as I went to Croatia and France matches. US-England will not have the same intensity as a competitive. You can't even count on the Chelsea players yet, IMO.