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Weekend Soccer Spectacular!

News   September 5, 2009 at 1:13 pm SoundersNerd

It’s a slow day and the Sounders have a long break (their next match is Sept 12 against DC, again). Luckily, some soccer gossip is seeping over from Europe: a rumor that Freddie Ljungberg has flown to London to discuss a possible loan deal to Arsenal or Chelsea.

Aside from that, it’s a big soccer weekend full of World Cup Qualifiers—that one week every quarter that FIFA sets aside for the world’s nations to get all nationalistic. This time, the US hosts El Salvador in lovely, obscure Sandy, Utah, Saturday night at 5pm.  The US is currently tied with Honduras in second place (the top three go to South Africa automatically, and #4 battles South American #5 for a slot).  El Sal was vying with Honduras to be the cinderella of CONCACAF and bump Mexico out of the top four; then they lost to bottom feeders Trinidad last month.  It’d take a miracle for them to make it out of a group—like beating the US at home.

Later that night, Costa Rica hosts Mexico, who are on the verge of flaming out for good.

If chanting “U!S!A! U!S!A!” doesn’t float your boat, there are 20 other matches going on that day, most of them showing at the George and Dragon, though several other pubs are starting to catch the bug (if you’re such a place, email me for an easy plug!)

The second piece of non-Sounders soccer news is a little old, but noteworthy still:  buried in Nickels’ concession two weeks ago was this juicy tidbit:  ”Seattle considered as World Cup host city.”

Finally, Greg, something I can thank you for!

It’s a long way off (WC 2018 or 2022, when the US might host again) but better late than… never mind.

I’ve long known that Seattle is a soccer town, but constantly looked over for the BIG matches, “rewarded” instead with insignificant Gold Cup games.   Meanwhile, red-blooded, soccer-ambivalent places like Nashville and Birmingham get to host the WC qualifiers.  As a result, the stadiums are filled with every Trinidadian/Guatemalteco/(and this week) Salvadoreno in the country, making it more of a home game for the guests than the US team.  A game that matters, let alone a World Cup game, in Seattle, with its large base of soccer fans, could pull off something that few (no?) other US cities has been able to do: show strong support for the National team.


  • Andrew Smith

    Yeah light rial and a vibrant downtown are crap. We can only thank nickels for the potential of a word cup match here in nine or 13 years!

  • Andrew Smith

    Yeah light rial and a vibrant downtown are crap. We can only thank nickels for the potential of a word cup match here in nine or 13 years!

  • Andrew Smith

    Oh, and the reason the US Men’s qualifiers go to these second or third tear cities is so the US team can have a home-team crowd.

    If the US played El Salvador here, a huge portion of the fans would be Salvadoran and the home field advantage would be gone.

    If the US played El Tri… well forget it. It’d be an entirely pro-mexico crowd. That’s why the games are in Salt Lake City and Birmingham.

  • Andrew Smith

    Oh, and the reason the US Men’s qualifiers go to these second or third tear cities is so the US team can have a home-team crowd.

    If the US played El Salvador here, a huge portion of the fans would be Salvadoran and the home field advantage would be gone.

    If the US played El Tri… well forget it. It’d be an entirely pro-mexico crowd. That’s why the games are in Salt Lake City and Birmingham.

  • Bobblehead

    Seattle was in consideration for the 1994 World Cup, but a certain Athletic Director over at UW refused to let them tear up the FieldTurf at Husky Stadium and replace it with grass.. Heck, they even offered to put the FieldTurf back in after they were done, but Hedges bowed to pressure from the NIMBYs and turned them down.

    Also, Seattle has two stadiums in the 2018/2022 bidding. Husky Stadium and Qwest Field. One of the few cities to actually have two stadiums in the running.

    USA Bid Committee Announces List of 27 Cities Still in Contention

  • Bobblehead

    Seattle was in consideration for the 1994 World Cup, but a certain Athletic Director over at UW refused to let them tear up the FieldTurf at Husky Stadium and replace it with grass.. Heck, they even offered to put the FieldTurf back in after they were done, but Hedges bowed to pressure from the NIMBYs and turned them down.

    Also, Seattle has two stadiums in the 2018/2022 bidding. Husky Stadium and Qwest Field. One of the few cities to actually have two stadiums in the running.

    USA Bid Committee Announces List of 27 Cities Still in Contention

  • Bobblehead

    Did you go to Gold Cup, Andrew? Even though it was a crap tourney, the stadium was still pro-US. You also have your reasons wrong as to why the WCQ aren’t played here. Bradley will not play a WCQ on artificial turf. If either Qwest or Husky Stadium had grass, I’m sure there would have been a WCQ here and it would have been packed with pro-US fans.

  • Bobblehead

    Did you go to Gold Cup, Andrew? Even though it was a crap tourney, the stadium was still pro-US. You also have your reasons wrong as to why the WCQ aren’t played here. Bradley will not play a WCQ on artificial turf. If either Qwest or Husky Stadium had grass, I’m sure there would have been a WCQ here and it would have been packed with pro-US fans.

  • SoundersNerd

    I remember the big debate (at least within soccer circles) about Qwest going turf. They’d promise to go grass for international matches, as FIFA requires, but I’m sure the $1 million price tag to do so is a deterent.

    And sorry Andrew, your wrong: four years ago, the qualifier against Guatemala was in Birmingham, and thus (my line) of every Guatemalan in the country flocking to Alabama (poor guys). Every game in the US is so far defined by the large number of supporters of the visiting team, cause there aren’t soccer fans in the host city.

    But I’m repeating myself. Damn beer. Go U!S!A!.

  • SoundersNerd

    I remember the big debate (at least within soccer circles) about Qwest going turf. They’d promise to go grass for international matches, as FIFA requires, but I’m sure the $1 million price tag to do so is a deterent.

    And sorry Andrew, your wrong: four years ago, the qualifier against Guatemala was in Birmingham, and thus (my line) of every Guatemalan in the country flocking to Alabama (poor guys). Every game in the US is so far defined by the large number of supporters of the visiting team, cause there aren’t soccer fans in the host city.

    But I’m repeating myself. Damn beer. Go U!S!A!.

  • Andrew Smith

    I did go. It was Grenanda vs USA. Grenada’s population? 110,000. Qwest’s capacity? 67.000. Let’s be serious.

    I went to a WCQ in Columbus back in feb that was HUGELY pro mexico.

    I went to another game, honduras vs USA in chicago. Crowd? Honduran.

    USSF picks its spots based on the likelihood of a home crowd. Seattle, even with the soccer euphoria, isn’t one of them.

  • Andrew Smith

    I did go. It was Grenanda vs USA. Grenada’s population? 110,000. Qwest’s capacity? 67.000. Let’s be serious.

    I went to a WCQ in Columbus back in feb that was HUGELY pro mexico.

    I went to another game, honduras vs USA in chicago. Crowd? Honduran.

    USSF picks its spots based on the likelihood of a home crowd. Seattle, even with the soccer euphoria, isn’t one of them.

  • Andrew Smith

    Oh and I also? I’ve seen two games at Qwest this year on grass.

  • Andrew Smith

    Oh and I also? I’ve seen two games at Qwest this year on grass.

  • Andrew Smith

    @5
    No, I’m not wrong, you have clearly never been to a world cup qualifier for the US. You are absolutely wrong here.

    It’s always hard for the US to find a home field advantage location for Concacaf games. Salt Lake city is one they are sticking with because they know it’s a home team advantage location. Until Seattle proves its the right location USSF is playing it safe, and you’re dead wrong to argue otherwise.

  • Andrew Smith

    @5
    No, I’m not wrong, you have clearly never been to a world cup qualifier for the US. You are absolutely wrong here.

    It’s always hard for the US to find a home field advantage location for Concacaf games. Salt Lake city is one they are sticking with because they know it’s a home team advantage location. Until Seattle proves its the right location USSF is playing it safe, and you’re dead wrong to argue otherwise.

  • Bobblehead

    If you saw the friendlies then you should also know that the field played like crap and was worse than if they had played on FieldTurf. Laying down a carpet of grass is a crap field and anyone that dislikes FieldTurf is going to dislike temporary grass even more.

  • Bobblehead

    If you saw the friendlies then you should also know that the field played like crap and was worse than if they had played on FieldTurf. Laying down a carpet of grass is a crap field and anyone that dislikes FieldTurf is going to dislike temporary grass even more.

  • SoundersNerd

    Sorry Andrew, I disagree. Have you seen the demographic make up of SLC? Doesn’t matter, the visitors fan base will travel to anywhere they are playing, be it Mexicans, Salvadorans, etc, etc. For them, it’s akin to Mecca, such as the turnout last year for Mex v China. Thus the game in Birmingham (Birmingham!!!) that was 90% Guatemalan.

    My point is, however, Seattle COULD possibly -maybe- yield support for the US team, because it is a soccer town, and especially now because of the Sounders.

    BTW- SLC was a pathetic choice: 19k for a WC qualifier? That’s gotta be a new low…

  • SoundersNerd

    Sorry Andrew, I disagree. Have you seen the demographic make up of SLC? Doesn’t matter, the visitors fan base will travel to anywhere they are playing, be it Mexicans, Salvadorans, etc, etc. For them, it’s akin to Mecca, such as the turnout last year for Mex v China. Thus the game in Birmingham (Birmingham!!!) that was 90% Guatemalan.

    My point is, however, Seattle COULD possibly -maybe- yield support for the US team, because it is a soccer town, and especially now because of the Sounders.

    BTW- SLC was a pathetic choice: 19k for a WC qualifier? That’s gotta be a new low…

  • Andrew Smith

    @10
    “SLC was a pathetic choice: 19k for a WC qualifier?”
    Uh Rio Tinto old holds 20K…

    And SLC is only 12% hispanic, lower than the national average (and consequently, lower than the Seattle area!)

  • Andrew Smith

    @10
    “SLC was a pathetic choice: 19k for a WC qualifier?”
    Uh Rio Tinto old holds 20K…

    And SLC is only 12% hispanic, lower than the national average (and consequently, lower than the Seattle area!)

  • SoundersNerd

    It does hold 20k, but according to the official FIFA match report, there were only 19,066 in attendance.

    http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/nccamerica/matches/round=252675/match=300073739/report.html

    And though SLC may be 12% hispanic (and IF it’s lower than in Seattle, which it might not be, it’s only a slight difference) 1- that percentage is not Salvadoran, 2- I’m going to guess that the audience was more 12% hispanic/Salvadoran; and 3- as I said earlier, they travel: it’s easy to guess that Salvadorans traveled from around the country for that match. And flights to SLC are cheap!

  • SoundersNerd

    It does hold 20k, but according to the official FIFA match report, there were only 19,066 in attendance.

    http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/nccamerica/matches/round=252675/match=300073739/report.html

    And though SLC may be 12% hispanic (and IF it’s lower than in Seattle, which it might not be, it’s only a slight difference) 1- that percentage is not Salvadoran, 2- I’m going to guess that the audience was more 12% hispanic/Salvadoran; and 3- as I said earlier, they travel: it’s easy to guess that Salvadorans traveled from around the country for that match. And flights to SLC are cheap!

  • Andrew Smith

    @12

    Oh man, you’ve really never been to a US vs (insert Latin American Concacaf nation’s men national soccer team name here) match!

    Mexicans, Hondurans, Salvadorans, et al. team up to root against americans at these matches!!! My brother in law roots for “every one but the us” as many latinos do. You’re crazy to think that all the Salvadoran fans at a game are salvadoran…

    Get a clue about concacaf soccer, mate.

  • Andrew Smith

    @12

    Oh man, you’ve really never been to a US vs (insert Latin American Concacaf nation’s men national soccer team name here) match!

    Mexicans, Hondurans, Salvadorans, et al. team up to root against americans at these matches!!! My brother in law roots for “every one but the us” as many latinos do. You’re crazy to think that all the Salvadoran fans at a game are salvadoran…

    Get a clue about concacaf soccer, mate.