On the Road at Home

My list of USMNT games continues with number four:

June 6, 2009
Soldier Field
Chicago IL
2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifier: USA v Honduras

The problem with being a fan of the US men's national team is that sometimes the home games can feel like away games. Case in point: the qualifier against Honduras at Soldier Field.

Quite a number of the First Minnesota Volunteers roadtripped to Chicago for the qualifier against Honduras, arriving Friday afternoon. We stayed in a hotel in Chinatown; the location was terrific, but the hotel was crappy and way, way, way overpriced. I forget who picked it; I'm blaming Neal, because that seems the easy route.

We arrived on Friday afternoon, then headed out to Bridgeview to catch the Fire play Houston. Section 8 was a little annoyed at the "tourists" at their home game, but overall they were friendly. The game itself wasn't anything special; Section 8, however, did put on a bit of a show in the second half:

Even the Houston announcers were impressed.

[Note: I generally find flares to be overrated and potentially dangerous. There are times, though, when they do look damned cool.]

Saturday was US game day. Most of us met up with American Outlaws at a bar in Chicago for some pre-game partying; after that, it was time to march to Soldier. I know someone people aren't into such things; me, I absolutely love it. Especially when it ends up with a stop at Soccer House and a speech from Sunil Gulati.

When we arrived at Solider, it became clear just how outnumbered we were; I would say the crowd was roughly two-thirds Honduras fans in a mostly-packed stadium. It was a little disheartening, but not terribly surprising. I didn't notice any incidents, however; both sets of fans seemed relatively respectful of the others. Even after the game—a 2-1 American win—Honduran and US fans alike were laughing at Mexico having lost.

I'm torn as to the future of qualifiers. Obviously, a crowd of that size put quite a bit of money into the US Soccer coffers. However, it seems that smaller venues such as Crew Stadium and Sporting Park have been much more conducive to having a true home-field advantage. Given that the first qualifier of this year's hex has been scheduled for DSG Park in Denver, I'm wondering if that's the approach that USSF has in mind.