Clint Dempsey and company brought the USMNT show to Rio Tinto (ESPN)
A couple of months ago US Soccer announced that not only would Rio Tinto Stadium host the USMNT for the 2013 Gold Cup, but we were getting a World Cup Qualifier against Honduras as well. I was pretty stoked, this was to be my first experience watching the National Team live, and I was not disappointed in the slightest. Being in the stands, singing the National Anthem, and cheering for your country is pretty much the best thing in sports, especially when there's something like a spot in the World Cup on the line.
In the end the match didn't have the memorable surroundings like the Colorado qualifier or the champagne type football that was played in Seattle, but it did have PLENTY of drama as the US left it late. Honduras is certainly a tougher opponent than Panama, and they pushed the US to the limit.
In fact, there were large stretches of the match where Honduras possibly were the better team, despite the fact that they were missing several key players to suspension and injury. Their cause wasn't aided by the fact that one of their forwards, New England's Jerry Bengston, got in an argument with the coach and left camp. The Hondurans still had some good options, including Roger Espinoza, lately of Wigan Athletic fame. He caused the US a good number of problems all night.
Honduras focused more on defense though, putting a lot of guys behind the ball and clearly playing for a scoreless draw. I will say that when I returned home and watched the match on TV, they came across as a little more attack-oriented than they did in person from my limited vantage point in section 30, especially in the first half.
They almost got their wish too! It took 73 minutes for the Yanks to break the deadlock. Jozy Altidore took a great ball from Fabian Johnson in the box and slotted past the burgundy-clad Honduran 'keeper to score the game's only goal. It was quite the accomplishment, as the 'keeper had absolutely stoned both Eddie Johnson and Clint Dempsey earlier in the match.
Honduras really came out of their shell after the goal, as they pretty much had to. In fact they bossed the match for a lot of the last 15 minutes, but Tim Howard marshaled the US Defense to repel all invaders and rack up another three points on the road to Brazil 2014. The win keeps the USA on top of the Hex with 13 points. Considering 16 usually puts a team in the World Cup, they're in a great position to qualify after taking maximum points from this round of matches.
Now I'd like to say a few words about the crowd and the evolution of Salt Lake as a soccer city and a soccer crowd. There's been some mudslinging in the media, most notably a comment from ESPN's Taylor Twellman during the broadcast of the match. In the first half, Ian Darke observed, quite rightly, that the decibel level wasn't as loud as the match in Seattle, at which Twellman waxed offense. When Darke pointed out that the crowd had considerably less to cheer about than the Seattle folks, Twellman commented that it really didn't matter, that the crowd has to be there for the team anyway.
I don't disagree with Taylor on that point. I too have been somewhat frustrated with our crowd at various points in the last few years. We have a tough time sustaining chants. We also seem to lack communication between our supporters groups. Barra Real, SCU, Section 35, and Section 26 all have made strides in trying to up the atmosphere, but sometimes they come in on top of each other and we end up with multiple chants at the same time, leaving the rest of the crowd perplexed as to what to do or who to follow.
When you stop and think about it, Salt Lake has had professional soccer for less than 10 years. We've been in our own stadium for about five. I would contend that the evolution of the area as a soccer city really didn't kick into gear until the team moved to Rio Tinto. I attended a few games at Rice Eccles stadium back in the day, and let's face it, it was just BAD all around. After that I moved to Florida, and I attended my first game at the Riot in September 2010. We got tickets in the south end zone where I was fairly confident that I could stand and cheer. Within ten minutes the people behind us had yelled at us to sit down.
We've come a long way since then. Our season tickets aren't in a supporters section, so we still get people who don't stand. However, the acceptance of chanting and supporters culture in general is on it's way up, which is a good sign. Perhaps nowhere in MLS is the difference between a "supporters club" type fan and the soccer mom/Dippin' Dots crowd more apparent than in Salt Lake. Generally I think RSL has done a pretty good job trying to strike a happy medium, but what people who aren't from here don't realize, with all due respect to Mr. Twellman and some of my twitter friends, is that it's a different crowd and demographic. We get a ton of families who have come into fandom because their kids have played the game. Turning these folks into standing/chanting supporters is an uphill battle, especially if they have young kids.
Also, the crowd is primarily a basketball/college football crowd. Both of these sports carry an entirely different flow and culture than pro soccer. It results in the crowd being more pensive and being more reluctant to chant in key moments. To put it differently, they're often too busy watching the match to yell and chant. It's not a bad thing, it's just different. Sure, folks like me would like them to come around, but it's a process. Also, don't forget that part of the reason the crowd here gets so nervous is because they're used to getting their hearts broken in the biggest of games: see Michael Jordan and Humberto Suazo.
The biggest improvement was that the whole crowd stood pretty much for the entire match for the USA. I'm hoping that this can signal the next phase in the evolution of Salt Lake as a soccer town. Let's face it, we're never gonna be Seattle in that regard. In my opinion, Seattle really is soccer city, USA, though I'm sure some folks in Portland would disagree. It's an example we should strive to emulate. I'm encouraged by what I saw Tuesday night as someone who has observed soccer in SLC from the early days. Let's build on it and see if we can make it better. Thanks to US Soccer for giving us the chances!
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