Steve: Beaver Stadium is a long way from everything, about a 4 hr drive from Philadelphia. Franklin Field has spurnned outside events (non UPenn). The Wachovia Stadium is an arena and the Kixx are an indoor team. If the match will happen in Philadelphia, it would be at the Linc, but the NCAA Lacrosse championships are already scheduled.
Thanks for the shout out but Franklin Field won't get used for a number of reasons. First, it's artificial turf and they won't bring in grass. Second, it's all bleacher seats so crowd control would be close to impossible and there aren't any modern amenities at all, not just skyboxes but big enough bathrooms, variety of food, parking, etc. As much as I'd love to see the game there I know it won't happen.
Lincoln Financial Field really isn't that bad for soccer as you can see below: Dimensions might be a bit small, but it still worked for ManU, Barca, Chelsea, etc who all played there.
I would love to see a US vs England International match! That would just be a great site to see I don't even care what field it's played at. It would great -- period!
But that won't happen as Philly has LAX Championships, unless they decide to bump that for England vs Argentina. Man I can't wait for USA vs England in NYC/NJ. Hope it happens!
NCAA Championships are bid on and decided on quite a few years in advance. In addition to the D-I Final Four, this year the D-II and D-III games will be played there on saturday. Not a chance of that getting kicked out.
ok. Then Philly is out.. Pick a new location for England vs Argentina. Unless they want both games in NYC/NJ ?
Argentina, like the USA have a confirmed fixture (away to Ecuador) on 4 June, so allowing for a weeks break, if they are going to participate and make this a triangular tournament, then you are looking at a fixture no later than Memorial weekend. Our FA have told us England ARE going to the East Coast this year and the first game will be shortly after our FA Cup Final (21 May) so 26 May is certainly realistic. That's all our FA will say as no contract has been signed yet to finalise whatever still needs finalising (probably how long Beckham will play etc) I suppose they could arrange both or all the games at Meadowlands or around NY/NJ but knowing our luck with Philadelphia unavailable, the other will probably be miles away!. Last time England played in the US in 93 we had games in Boston, Washington DC and Detroit. Any of you guys reads anything or hears anything, please post it here. Cheers. Steve
I could see games going to Foxboro. But maybe Bal'mer (Baltimore) is in the mix. Also not a far drive for folks from the Philly area.
Did they build the new Baltimore NFL stadium with FIFA in mind? Cause they didn't do that with Fed=Hex field in DC. How bout the Yale Bowl? (Yea right!) That would be interesting.
The Yale bowl would be awful. The bleachers suck, the press facilities are... uh... well let's just say I've been in them-- open air, no phone lines or high speed, old chairs. And again, like Franklin Field, no way to separate the groups of fans. Plus you have to go down a bunch of residential streets to get to the Yale Bowl from Interstate 95 and that takes a while. And oh yeah, I just remembered they started a big renovation project this year. I don't think M&T Bank Stadium is real grass, but I'm not sure.
It either has real grass or the same/similar surface as the Linc. The National Team played a friendly there (Ecuador) in like, 1997.
M&T Bank Stadium's turf is definately artificial. They first opened the stadium with real grass but in 2003 they installed a blade-like artificial surface called Momentum Turf. The Linc's surface is real grass with all kinds of networked fibers below the grass holding the root system in place.
We are told by the English FA that they hope to make an announcement at the end of this week. Soon as I hear anything I'll post it here. Steve
I seem to recall that game was played in Municipal Stadium (where the Orioles used to play before moving to Camden Yard). You're correct about the surface being artificial - it's called sportexe http://www.sportexe.com/news_NFLPA.asp.
The Yale Bowl wouldn't be any good because there would be no way to segregate the fans?????? Come on, us English fans aren't that bad that you would need to segregate us!! A different story if it was Scotland, Germany, the Argies or Turkey we were playing though!! Although we had abit of a tax disagreement around the 1770's, after the portuguese, you're our longest serving allies!! Friends across the water and all that!!!! lol
No, seriously. It's all old wooden bleachers, no concourse for concessions, VERY little parking. You really wouldn't want 60,000 soccer fans there. And yes, if the U.S. won I think there would be some trouble. I almost think there would be trouble regardless because with the visa rules as they are you would have to convince the U.S. Customs and Immigration people that this was a big enough deal that they should up the security at JFK and Boston Logan. Which they might not since they probably don't care much about soccer. I dunno, I just think it would be better at a more modern facility regardless.
Orioles used to play at Memorial Stadium. I think Municipal Stadium is/was in Milwaukee. Not sure if the Raven's home field can fit a real football pitch, I'd be surprised if they took that into consideration at all.
No... unless you count annoying kids blowing even more annoying horns in your ears as troublesome...... but there could be a few over exuberant pissed-up fellows who might wanna "prove" themselves to the English
It's not as if a friendly in the US would see a travelling army of thousands of fans making their way over. The bulk of the England support would be ex-pats, and as flights over are not exactly EasyJet £29.99 return deals it's not as if a trip over would be a chav's lads weekend either. I can't recall a single incident of England fans causing trouble, either at a stadium or in a city, outside of Europe. The only ones likely to travel would be real die-hard England Travel Club members, and they are not the ones who cause trouble.