The Ineptitude of US Soccer

It boggles my mind at just how utterly useless US Soccer is when it comes to tickets for their supporters—especially when it comes to away games. Case in point: the upcoming game in Costa Rica.

Last night, US Soccer sent an e-mail to US Soccer Supporters Club members, saying that there would be a USSSC-exclusive sale of tickets to the away game this morning at 9am Central. Strike one: less than a twenty-four hour notice.

My friend Charlie, who is also planning to go, said he would take care of getting our tickets, so I didn't worry about it this morning. Right about 9, I got a text from Charlie; he was only able to get one ticket, and he did that before it was actually 9:00. Strike two: starting the sale before the stated time.

I then hopped onto the USSSC-member page to try and buy myself a ticket. At 9:03 (according to my phone), I sent a text to Charlie to say they were sold out. Strike three: getting such a tiny amount of tickets that they were sold out within three minutes of going on sale the stated sale time.

Not surprisingly, US Soccer has again struck out.

Granted, getting tickets is a bit easier these days; in 2009, you still had to fax in forms to Soccer House in Chicago. But getting away tickets during this Hex has mostly been a disaster:

• tickets for Honduras didn't get mailed out; people had to pick them up from a hotel in San Pedro Sula;
• tickets for Azteca were delayed multiple times, and arrived mere days before the Denver game;
• American Outlaws arranged the tickets for Jamaica, but were apparently given a bad batch before having them swapped out for the proper tickets.

So, US Soccer: figure it out already. I know there's some goofy game you play with the other federations about away ticket allocations; but for the sake of your supporters, please stop it. The number of fans traveling to away games—especially qualifiers, and doubly-so the Hex—has been growing. We want to be loyal and support you, at home and on the road; you're keeping us from doing that.

So now what? Hopefully AO will have some tickets for sale separate of their ground package, as we're not planning on doing that. Otherwise, I just don't know.

Guest Spot: Rocky Mountain Redux

After the fallout from my trip to Salt Lake City in June, I decided to ask one of the people who'd responded to write an entry about USA v Costa Rica at the Gold Cup last Saturday.

Brian "Bean" Mace is a local radio and podcast host from Salt Lake City. He covers college sports for LawlessRepublic.com.

The US men's national team returned to Salt Lake City for the second time in just under four weeks. As all US soccer fans are aware, the Salt Lake City crowd had their issues in the World Cup qualifier with Honduras. Many elements played a factor in the success of the Salt Lake City crowd during the World Cup qualifier, but today we are going to talk about the issues during the Gold Cup.

Oh, What a Beautiful Monday!

Not a bad few days as CONCACAF goes, eh?

On Friday, the US Gold Cup squad played a friendly in San Diego against Guatemala. Guatemala is definitely in a bit of a rebuilding phase, having not made it to the Hex nor qualified for the Gold Cup. This means that this was perhaps not a fair judge of how the US might do in the Gold Cup, but it was good to see how the "B team" would fare against the sort of team they'll see in the tournament.

The game also marked the return of Landon Donovan to the national team. I, for one, am glad to see it. The man deserved his time away; he'd been playing non-stop for a few years, and had suffered injuries for the first time in his career in 2012. I'm hoping that a good showing in the Gold Cup will see him energized for a return to qualifying in September.

As for the game itself, Guatemala put up a good fight in the first half, but the US eventually broke them down and ran away with it in the second half, winning 6-0. Cool to see Donovan score his 50th and 51st international goals; also nice to see Stuart Holden continue to look good in his comeback bid.

On Sunday, the Gold Cup started in bizarre fashion. At the Rose Bowl, Martinique beat Canada 1-0 on a stoppage-time blast. I didn't watch the whole game, but what I saw wasn't good for Canada. Martinique controlled a decent amount of play, and their miracle goal was deserved.

As if that weren't strange enough, Panama then went on to beat Mexico 2-1. Mexico has also sent a B team, while I think Panama had most of their top players; still, it's not a good sign for LOL Tri. Who knew that Mexico vs Canada in the second group game would potentially see one of those teams eliminated from contention?