Thursday, September 11, 2008
Impressive US win marred by inexcusable attendance
I could not believe my eyes when I saw the attendance report from last night's World Cup Qualifier in Chicago between the US and Trinidad & Tobago!
11,452
You'd think the game was held in South Dakota in January at 3 a.m. with those kinds of numbers. But nope, it was a gorgeous evening in the suburbs of one of the biggest, most sports-loving cities in the world. Moreover, it is the home of the headquarters of the United States Soccer Federation - the very organization that produced the match.
The Chicago Fire - who's home stadium was used for this match - drew more fans on two out of three previous mid-week matches so far this season. A league match against New England (15,553) on April 3rd and an exhibition match (YES, EXHIBITION) against Wisla Krakow (14,040) on May 21. They even nearly out-drew the US match on Wednesday, July 30th in a friendly against Everton with 9,125 brave soles daring to go spend an evening in a brand new soccer stadium watching the world's most popular game - how dare they!
Maybe there was something else going on in Chicago last night distracting sports fans? Let's see...
Cubs were away at St. Louis in an afternoon game, so no TV distraction
White Sox home against Toronto (attendance: 26,198), any chance baseball fans of the White Sox are the only ones who like soccer in Chicago?
Bears (NFL) did not play
Bulls (NBA) did not play
Blackhawks (NHL) did not play
How about some other facts...
Since US Soccer started reporting attendance figures in 1990:
- There have been eight (8) games played by the US Men's team in Chicago with a cumulative total of 295,018 attendance (average 36,878).
- There have been 26 World Cup qualifiers played on US soil with a cumulative total of 797,328 attendance (average 30,667).
- Only three previous World Cup qualifiers drew less attendance than last night (6/13/04 versus Grenada in Columbus, OH - 9,137, 11/17/04 versus Jamaica in Columbus, OH - 9,088, and 10/12/05 versus Panama in Foxboro, MA).
- The only other home qualifier so far this year was against soccer minnow Barbados in LA, yet still out-drew last night with 11,476.
- The US has played Trinidad and Tobago seven (7) times on US soil, with a cumulative total of 145,232 (average 20,747).
- Of those seven previous meetings with T&T on US soil, ALL have had higher attendance, including 19,312 on November 24, 1996 in RICHMOND, VA.
Bottom line - we know the US team is has traditionally struggled to draw big crowds of US supporters, but such a low attendance for a World Cup qualifier in the home city of our country's Federation, and in a spanking new soccer-specific stadium is completely unacceptable. Someone should be fired at the Fire or USSF, or both. This is clearly a result of poor game promotion. Let's only hope the TV ratings are higher.
Case in point, according to officials at one of the best ticket-selling operations in MLS, D.C. United (who are responsible for ticket sales at RFK for the upcoming home qualifier against last place Cuba on October 11th) has ALREADY reached the 11,000 tickets sold mark - a full month before kick off, and against a much less storied team.
Everyone involved with soccer in Chicago should be embarrassed. USSF officials, Fire officials and fans, youth club directors and coaches, and even media editors for not carving out more space to preview the game - and maybe even the coach for not using any current Chicago Fire players, or calling in other legitimate pool players with a little more draw at the gate, like Freddy Adu or Jozy Altidore.
I'd rather see the US play Mexico in the Rose Bowl for all the marbles than another embarrassment like Wednesday night. At least then we can pretend there is some passion in the US for its national team.Labels: Chicago Fire, U.S. Men, World Cup
Thursday, February 7, 2008
U.S. Men's teams quotes following Mexico match
Writing from the hotel in Houston before headed to I-Hop (to fill my tank), the gas station (to fill the car's tank), and to the airport (hopefully to a plane with a full tank).
Attending a U.S. Men's away game is always a whirlwind of great memories, fueled just as much by the people you meet as by the game itself. Alex (my friend and photographer who accompanied me to Houston) and I even met two guys that flew in from Alaska just for game. How cool is that!
More later on the game itself. For now, enjoy my first set of PSW-exclusive post-game quotes from U.S. players.
Oguchi Onyewu (Man of the Match)
On the physicality of the game.
"I didn't think it was very physical. Maybe they did, but you know. For me it was alright. If they wanted to get physical, that was fine. It's like my playground. It was OK. A couple of nasty words were exchanged here and there, but that's part of the game."
On how special would it be for you to play a world cup qualifier at RFK stadium in front of friends and family?
"I think it's about time. I don't remember the last time we played in DC. It's really interesting for the U.S. National team not to play in our nations capitol for so long. I'm hoping that sooner or later we're going to have a friendly or a qualifer over there. It would be great to play in front of my home fans and family."
Freddy Adu
On how special would it be to play a World Cup qualifier in DC?
"Obviously it would be great. That's where I started. To go back to play in front of those fans would be a dream come true. It would be amazing."
On how many tickets he would need for friends and family?
"It would be like 300 [laughs]. It would be awesome."
On if he expected to play forward tonight.
"I didn't know if I was play at all or not. I was just happy I got in. Wherever the coach puts you, you've got to go in and help the team. My instructions were to go in and maintain possession and get some fouls. Obviously it [his impact] could have been better, but I was able to help the team out in that regard."
On getting the chance to play with Jozy Altidore again after the U-20 World Cup.
"It was great. It's been a long time and to get a chance to play with him again was great."
Tim Howard On the 2nd half altercation away from the ball and if any real blows were landed.
"No, he slid in and.. it was really nothing. He thought it was clean, and I thought it was a foul. We wound up on top of each other and it's a typical US, Mexico game. Two players wind up on top of each other, we're not getting off easy so.. It was a little bit of a scuffle and push, that's all."
Labels: Freddy Adu, Mexico, Oguchi Onyewu, Tim Howard, U.S. Men
11,452
You'd think the game was held in South Dakota in January at 3 a.m. with those kinds of numbers. But nope, it was a gorgeous evening in the suburbs of one of the biggest, most sports-loving cities in the world. Moreover, it is the home of the headquarters of the United States Soccer Federation - the very organization that produced the match.
The Chicago Fire - who's home stadium was used for this match - drew more fans on two out of three previous mid-week matches so far this season. A league match against New England (15,553) on April 3rd and an exhibition match (YES, EXHIBITION) against Wisla Krakow (14,040) on May 21. They even nearly out-drew the US match on Wednesday, July 30th in a friendly against Everton with 9,125 brave soles daring to go spend an evening in a brand new soccer stadium watching the world's most popular game - how dare they!
Maybe there was something else going on in Chicago last night distracting sports fans? Let's see...
Cubs were away at St. Louis in an afternoon game, so no TV distraction
White Sox home against Toronto (attendance: 26,198), any chance baseball fans of the White Sox are the only ones who like soccer in Chicago?
Bears (NFL) did not play
Bulls (NBA) did not play
Blackhawks (NHL) did not play
How about some other facts...
Since US Soccer started reporting attendance figures in 1990:
- There have been eight (8) games played by the US Men's team in Chicago with a cumulative total of 295,018 attendance (average 36,878).
- There have been 26 World Cup qualifiers played on US soil with a cumulative total of 797,328 attendance (average 30,667).
- Only three previous World Cup qualifiers drew less attendance than last night (6/13/04 versus Grenada in Columbus, OH - 9,137, 11/17/04 versus Jamaica in Columbus, OH - 9,088, and 10/12/05 versus Panama in Foxboro, MA).
- The only other home qualifier so far this year was against soccer minnow Barbados in LA, yet still out-drew last night with 11,476.
- The US has played Trinidad and Tobago seven (7) times on US soil, with a cumulative total of 145,232 (average 20,747).
- Of those seven previous meetings with T&T on US soil, ALL have had higher attendance, including 19,312 on November 24, 1996 in RICHMOND, VA.
Case in point, according to officials at one of the best ticket-selling operations in MLS, D.C. United (who are responsible for ticket sales at RFK for the upcoming home qualifier against last place Cuba on October 11th) has ALREADY reached the 11,000 tickets sold mark - a full month before kick off, and against a much less storied team.
Everyone involved with soccer in Chicago should be embarrassed. USSF officials, Fire officials and fans, youth club directors and coaches, and even media editors for not carving out more space to preview the game - and maybe even the coach for not using any current Chicago Fire players, or calling in other legitimate pool players with a little more draw at the gate, like Freddy Adu or Jozy Altidore.
I'd rather see the US play Mexico in the Rose Bowl for all the marbles than another embarrassment like Wednesday night. At least then we can pretend there is some passion in the US for its national team.
Labels: Chicago Fire, U.S. Men, World Cup
Attending a U.S. Men's away game is always a whirlwind of great memories, fueled just as much by the people you meet as by the game itself. Alex (my friend and photographer who accompanied me to Houston) and I even met two guys that flew in from Alaska just for game. How cool is that!
More later on the game itself. For now, enjoy my first set of PSW-exclusive post-game quotes from U.S. players.
Oguchi Onyewu (Man of the Match)
On the physicality of the game.
"I didn't think it was very physical. Maybe they did, but you know. For me it was alright. If they wanted to get physical, that was fine. It's like my playground. It was OK. A couple of nasty words were exchanged here and there, but that's part of the game."
On how special would it be for you to play a world cup qualifier at RFK stadium in front of friends and family?
"I think it's about time. I don't remember the last time we played in DC. It's really interesting for the U.S. National team not to play in our nations capitol for so long. I'm hoping that sooner or later we're going to have a friendly or a qualifer over there. It would be great to play in front of my home fans and family."
Freddy Adu
On how special would it be to play a World Cup qualifier in DC?
"Obviously it would be great. That's where I started. To go back to play in front of those fans would be a dream come true. It would be amazing."
On how many tickets he would need for friends and family?
"It would be like 300 [laughs]. It would be awesome."
On if he expected to play forward tonight.
"I didn't know if I was play at all or not. I was just happy I got in. Wherever the coach puts you, you've got to go in and help the team. My instructions were to go in and maintain possession and get some fouls. Obviously it [his impact] could have been better, but I was able to help the team out in that regard."
On getting the chance to play with Jozy Altidore again after the U-20 World Cup.
"It was great. It's been a long time and to get a chance to play with him again was great."
Tim Howard
On the 2nd half altercation away from the ball and if any real blows were landed.
"No, he slid in and.. it was really nothing. He thought it was clean, and I thought it was a foul. We wound up on top of each other and it's a typical US, Mexico game. Two players wind up on top of each other, we're not getting off easy so.. It was a little bit of a scuffle and push, that's all."
Labels: Freddy Adu, Mexico, Oguchi Onyewu, Tim Howard, U.S. Men
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]