Posted on 08/03/2005 8:27:03 PM PDT by 11th_VA
CHICAGO (August 2, 2005) — Tickets for the U.S. vs. Mexico World Cup qualifier in Columbus, Ohio, on Sept. 3, sold out just minutes after they went on sale today to the general public.
Anticipating the biggest international soccer event in Crew Stadium since the U.S. faced Mexico on Feb. 28, 2001, fans snapped up tickets during a week-long presale for select members of the U.S. Soccer community, including registered ussoccerfan.com members and Crew season ticket holders. The remaining tickets sold out today in 20 minutes.
“Columbus has consistently given tremendous support to the national team, and we are excited about the chance to play in front of a sold-out crowd at Crew Stadium,” said U.S. manager Bruce Arena. “While every World Cup qualifier is important, winning your matches at home is critical, and we anticipate that the fans in Columbus will provide a big boost to our team.”
The Labor Day weekend tilt in Crew Stadium, presented by Budweiser, will be televised live at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN Classic and Telemundo, and fans are also able to follow the match live at ussoccer.com via MatchTracker, presented by Philips Electronics
"Crew Stadium will again be the center of the soccer universe as fans from across the country will descend upon Columbus for this quadrennial qualifying battle," said Crew General Manager Mark McCullers. "The anticipation is already at fever pitch. Fans who were fortunate enough to score this ticket will not be disappointed."
The U.S. is currently in second place in the final round qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup with 12 points and a 4-1-0 record, while Mexico has 13 points and a 4-0-1 record. Both teams will again be in action on August 17 as the U.S. hosts Trinidad & Tobago in East Hartford, Conn. (at 8 p.m. ET live on ESPN2), and Mexico hosts Costa Rica in Mexico City.
The Crew Stadium match will be the fifth World Cup qualifier hosted by the six-year old venue. The U.S. has a 2-0-2 record in qualifying and a 3-0-3 all-time record there. In 2004, the U.S. defeated Grenada on June 13 by a 3-0 score in a second round qualifying match before tying Jamaica 1-1 in the final match of the semifinal round on November 17.
The U.S. has just 11 wins in 50 matches against Mexico in a series that dates to 1934, but the U.S. has a 9-6-8 advantage in home matches since 1957. In the last nine meetings, the U.S. has won six games by shutout and tied another meeting 0-0 in 2003. Additionally, since the rivalry between these two teams began in earnest in 1990, the sides have played 23 times, with the U.S. holding a 9-7-7 advantage. The last two U.S. losses were in Mexico City in final round qualifying for the FIFA World Cup, including a 2-1 defeat on March 27 of this year.
Under Arena, the U.S. has a 6-4-1 record vs. their border rivals including a 13-6 advantage in goal differential. The biggest of those six wins was a 2-0 victory for the U.S. on June 17, 2002, that sent Mexico home from Korea while the U.S. advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup. In World Cup qualifying, the U.S. has a 3-14-5 record vs. Mexico, including a 2-0 victory in Columbus Crew Stadium in the last U.S. final round qualifier vs. the Tricolores at home. In that match on Feb. 28, 2001, Josh Wolff and Earnie Stewart scored for the U.S. before a sold-out crowd of 24,624 fans who braved freezing temperatures.
The U.S., along with Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama and Trinidad & Tobago, is competing in the 10-game round-robin format tournament from Feb. 9 through Oct. 12, 2005, with the top three teams automatically advancing to the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. The fourth-place team will compete in a two-game playoff to be held Nov. 12/13 and Nov. 16 against the fifth-place finisher in Asian qualifying.
Give them cramped, sparse dressing rooms. then make sure all the players are treated to racial and nationalistic taunts.
The Americans will get bottled in this stadium like they do in Los Angeles.
Watch what happens when the U.S. anthem is played. You guys are in for a real treat, if the attendees are anything like they are on the west coast. The U.S. National Anthem will be booed and the U.S. players will be cursed.
You forgot to mention the bags of urine that were throw ... but the US crowd won't go that far ...
I'll bet the majority of the people at the event will be Mexicans and the US players will still be treated to racial and nationalistic taunts.
But I guess if the Red Sox can win the world series, the US can win the world cup
But enough about the Democratic National Convention...
Most of the tickets were sold during a presale event to ussoccer.com registered members - the hope is most were US citizens ...
Heh heh heh... I can visualize that.
...I want to see the American fans treat the Mexican players the same way that the Americans get treated down there...
You mean like that last game in Mexico, what was the city, L.A.?
Where the home crowd pelted the Americans with bottles and crap?
That was plain rude.
The Americans will get bottled in this stadium like they do in Los Angeles.It's Ohio, not California. We only bottle incompetent referees. >:)
-Eric
Just go to the game wearing an INS T-Shirt.
Watching a Soccer match,any soccer match is like watching the grass grow, or the paint dry on a fence post.
I Hate Soccer.
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