Gold Cup 2011 thread

[robino2001]

Anyone know when tickets ended up selling out? I didn't keep up with it. We bought ours the minute they went on sale months ago assuming/hoping for US and Mexico being here and I know as of a month ago or so, tickets were abundant. Were tickets available this weekend until the teams were known or has it been sold out for a little while?

Jealous. I really wanted to get tickets for this game but work and school didn't agree with my idea.

School definitely is taking a back seat for a day or two and work will still be there when I get home...

[scott]

Before the US game was set, I thought I read there was only a couple thousand left, then they sold out right away after that. There was probably a huge push right when the Mexico game got set.

Plenty of tickets on Stubhub around face value - I was looking to see about upgrading. I'm on the 300 level. I also have a parking pass I don't think I need anymore because they banned tailgating so I'll be at the AO party then taking the light rail to the game.

I looked into flights from Houston to LA for the final... Continental (who I even have an AO discount code for) wants $1100 and Southwest isn't much cheaper... so looks like I'll be watching it from the brewery.

[sonic21]

why is the GC only held in the US?

Seems unfair. Are there not enough stadium in other countries?

[SAtown]

Goin up to Houston with some buddies bright and early tomorrow!

[robino2001]

Before the US game was set, I thought I read there was only a couple thousand left, then they sold out right away after that. There was probably a huge push right when the Mexico game got set.

Plenty of tickets on Stubhub around face value - I was looking to see about upgrading. I'm on the 300 level. I also have a parking pass I don't think I need anymore because they banned tailgating so I'll be at the AO party then taking the light rail to the game.

I looked into flights from Houston to LA for the final... Continental (who I even have an AO discount code for) wants $1100 and Southwest isn't much cheaper... so looks like I'll be watching it from the brewery.

Shame I'm not in SA, I'd buy the parking pass for you as we'll be doing the lot. Coworker of mine booked flights/tickets for Pasadena a couple of months ago - no idea what he paid for them though. Dude's not a big soccer fan or anything though, more of a get together w/ him and some old friends, one of them figured it may be a good place to do it. I figured Houston and the semis was good enough. A US/Mexico matchup would have been awesome but I thought two hopefully compe ive matchups may be just as good.

[MannyIsGod]

why is the GC only held in the US?

Seems unfair. Are there not enough stadium in other countries?

It would pretty much have to be Canada, Mexico or the US to host it. Everytime Mexico has hosted it in recent memory the US has cohosted it. I don't think they're capable of pulling it off alone anymore.

[MannyIsGod]

Before the US game was set, I thought I read there was only a couple thousand left, then they sold out right away after that. There was probably a huge push right when the Mexico game got set.

Plenty of tickets on Stubhub around face value - I was looking to see about upgrading. I'm on the 300 level. I also have a parking pass I don't think I need anymore because they banned tailgating so I'll be at the AO party then taking the light rail to the game.

I looked into flights from Houston to LA for the final... Continental (who I even have an AO discount code for) wants $1100 and Southwest isn't much cheaper... so looks like I'll be watching it from the brewery.

Drive and pick me up on the way IMO.

[scott]

why is the GC only held in the US?

Seems unfair. Are there not enough stadium in other countries?

$$$$$$$

No other country would generate the same kind of revenue for CONCACAF, plain and simple.

[IronMaxipad]

why is the GC only held in the US?

Seems unfair. Are there not enough stadium in other countries?

Because if it were always in Mexico the US would have 0 gold cups.

[IronMaxipad]

Both games are going to be played at the same stadium? And it's in Houston? Gonna be like a Mexico home game.

[MannyIsGod]

You think? There's a reason they put it in Houston and the Final in LA and its not for the benefit of the US.

[Sense]

Both games are going to be played at the same stadium? And it's in Houston? Gonna be like a Mexico home game.

Oh you better believe it...

I keep wondering why the USA game is first... is it because if they play after, people will leave?

Or is it because the Mexico game is the better game? :P

How are those things considered when scheduling..?

[cheguevara]

well mexicans are literally everywhere. they could host the game in Tibet and 10,000 mexicans would show up

[MannyIsGod]

Oh you better believe it...

I keep wondering why the USA game is first... is it because if they play after, people will leave?

Or is it because the Mexico game is the better game? :P

How are those things considered when scheduling..?

Its because of the seeding. Had the US won the group they would have been the later game.

[MannyIsGod]

But @ Mexico fans trying to give the US because they don't have the same number of people showing up. If they had the game in Seattle there would be no issues filling that stadium with US fans.

[IronMaxipad]

Son it doesn't matter where the game is played Mexican fans will be there

Speaking of Seattle..:

La Raza's edge
The best fans in America don't root for an American team
ESPN The Magazine
Archive
This story appears in the June 27, 2011 issue of ESPN The Magazine.

They're doing the wave in Seattle, and whether you think the classic exercise in fanimation originated here, as every Washington native does, or in Mexico, as most of the rest of the world believes, this one really is a Mexican Wave. Fifty thousand supporters of Mexico's national soccer team -- in sombreros, Aztec headdresses, wrestling masks and insect costumes -- have brought their unique shade of green to the Emerald City. The Pacific Northwest isn't typically a Mexican tour stop, so for many who have gathered at Qwest Field for the team's Gold Cup warmup with Ecuador, it's the first chance to see their beloved "El Tricolor" in person. The team struggles to an uninspired 1-1 draw, but the El Tri crowd is in form. Then again, it always is.

Joyous, spontaneous, disorganized yet perfectly in unison -- the Mexican Wave is the perfect metaphor for the millions of north-of-the-border followers of El Tri. "Soccer is our main sport, and the Mexican team is our team," says Oscar Quiroz of Vancouver, Wash., as he marches outside the stadium before the match alongside a mélange of fans similarly draped in Mexican flags. "We support it 100 percent."

Likewise, we will take this opportunity to champion Mexico's displaced faithful as the best fans in America. If the scenes in Seattle are any indication, there's no such thing as a casual Mexico fan. All across the country, El Tri devotees like Quiroz flock to U.S. football stadiums at least five times a year to support an annual tour of friendlies managed by Soccer United Marketing (SUM), the marketing arm of Major League Soccer. These exhibitions generate the sports-festival atmosphere of a Final Four, the prideful party vibe of a big-city ethnic parade and the celeb idolatry of a Justin Bieber concert. Where else in the world could you find a national team's fans selling out stadiums in the country of its No. 1 rival?

Yet no matter how many hotel rooms it fills or cities it marches through, the massive Mexican-American fan base is almost always invisible to the U.S. public. Other than stadium owners, that is. Whom did Jerry Jones book to headline the inaugural sporting event at Cowboys Stadium? Mexico, which set a soccer attendance record in Texas in its 2009 Gold Cup quarterfinal against Haiti. And guess who kicked off the first full event at New Meadowlands Stadium the following year? Mexico again, in a friendly against Ecuador that was attended by 77,705 fans.

If you book El Tricolor, they will come.

http://insider.espn.go.com/sports/so...-united-states

Great ing article

anyone have insider so i can read the rest of it?

[MannyIsGod]

Son it doesn't matter where the game is played Mexican fans will be there

Speaking of Seattle..:

Great ing article

anyone have insider so i can read the rest of it?

well mexicans are literally everywhere. they could host the game in Tibet and 10,000 mexicans would show up

TBH Only place I ever went and felt like I didn't have my brothers with me was New Orleans.

[Sense]

But @ Mexico fans trying to give the US because they don't have the same number of people showing up. If they had the game in Seattle there would be no issues filling that stadium with US fans.

lol@ the above article completely obliterating your sentence above..

You do realize what you just said though right?

Whether the US can fill up the stadium in Seattle or not, it still doesn't make up for the rest of the US... in fact it's kind of sad that you even had to point out one city.. as if it makes it better.

[Sense]

TBH Only place I ever went and felt like I didn't have my brothers with me was New Orleans.

lol Manny you're whiter than Scott!

[MannyIsGod]

Only on the internet bro. My family is FROM Mexico and the moment you get me around them I lose all my coconut qualities. Even when I talk to my mom on the phone its like a switch is flipped. Some of my neighbors from Cuba asked me if I was from Mexico because my accent when I speak Spanish.

[MannyIsGod]

lol@ the above article completely obliterating your sentence above..

You do realize what you just said though right?

Whether the US can fill up the stadium in Seattle or not, it still doesn't make up for the rest of the US... in fact it's kind of sad that you even had to point out one city.. as if it makes it better.

Eh, I don't know if its sad. The US crowds are growing. The Spain match set a new record for attendance. The uS had the largest traveling contingent to the World Cup. That should count for something.

Definitely not as big as it is to Mexico's fans but that's always been the case.

[Libri]

USA's starting lineup and subs.

Starting: 1-Tim Howard; 6-Steve Cherundolo, 21-Clarence Goodson, 3-Carlos Bocanegra (capt.), 14-Eric Lichaj; 4-Michael Bradley, 13-Jermaine Jones; 22-Alejandro Bedoya, 16-Sacha Kljestan, 8-Clint Dempsey; 9-Juan Agudelo

Subs: 7-Maurice Edu, 10-Landon Donovan, 11-Chris Wondolowski, 12-Jonathan Bornstein, 15-Tim Ream, 20-Freddy Adu, 23-Marcus Hahnemann

[MannyIsGod]

Also I don't think the article destroys my point at all. That Mexicans show up to a match in Seattle doesn't mean that USA fans wouldn't show up to a match there.

[MannyIsGod]

I'm not totally shocked that Landon is on the bench again but what I'm shocked is that Bradley had the balls to do this. If anything, they need to win early so we can sub out Dempsey early so that he's not toast by the final.

[Landon Donofag]

I'm not totally shocked that Landon is on the bench again but what I'm shocked is that Bradley had the balls to do this. If anything, they need to win early so we can sub out Dempsey early so that he's not toast by the final.

agreed.