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I'm going to be sitting in the Sam's army section all decked out in red (the color for USA soccer fans to wear to be identified as a USA supporter.) If you have never been to a world cup quailifier, trust me when I tell you it is quite unlike anything else you have ever seen. The hard core fans will be singing and chanting and dancing to the drums all game long. so get your tickets today, get the cheap seats in the north end zone if you want to stand/cheer/sing the whole game (but wear red!) and sit anywhere else if you just want to relax and enjoy the game. But just come! The weather will be wonderful, the game will hopefully be wonderful, and it is our chance to put Birmingham on the world sporting map!

Quote:After a 75-minute workout at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, a favorite post practice topic among the U.S. National Team was the home field advantage they hope to enjoy Wednesday at Birmingham's Legion Field.

The opponent is Guatemala and the game scenario is a third World Cup qualifying; after listening to 110,000 deafening Mexicans for 90 minutes on Sunday, anything would have to be an improvement.

"We are really looking forward to the great Birmingham support and the great home support that we so desperately want every time we play at home," noted goalkeeper Kasey Keller, whose mother lives in the Birmingham area. He has also used the services of noted Birmingham surgeon Dr. Larry Lemack on occasion, so this week actually feels a little bit like home to the Washington native.

However, the U.S. should not be surprised if a healthy contingent of Guatemala soccer fans is on hand. The estimate Sunday in Mexico was that the USA had 300 hundred brave fans at immense Azteca Stadium - count on a several thousand cheering for Guatemala in Birmingham.

In February of 2002, the 'Nats played a Legion Field friendly with Ecuador and the north end zone of Legion Field was solidly yellow-packed with fervent away supporters.

Keller can only remember a handful of home matches where the U.S. has had a clear home crowd advantage. "Luckily I've been in a few," he told YA. "We had a great couple of games in Columbus, Ohio were we've had full support. We had one game in Portland, a very important qualifying game for 1998 World Cup that was one of the craziest home crowds I've been involved in."

Coach Bruce Arena may be more excited about the Birmingam altitude, home field or not. "It is great to be close to sea level," he sighed. "I think you will see a lot more energy for our team because we are back down at sea level or whatever the altitude at Birmingham is. I can't imagine it is very high."

Still, he offered optimism that his side can enjoy one of those rare occasions of crowd backing on Wednesday night.

"I am hopeful that this Birmingham community and the surrounding area will come out and support us," declared Arena. "As you can see (from Sunday), is what a home field advantage is: 110,000 thousand people - and one day we would like to see that in the USA."

"We have seen things in the past with Birmingham that resemble a home field advantage and we hope to have that on Wednesday."

The weather forecast calls for a perfect evening: no rain and temperatures in the mid 70's. Promotion for the match has been heavy, but school kids were out on spring break last week. Three previous friendlies have each drawn over 20,000 to one of the University of Alabama's vaunted stomping grounds.

Legion Field has good memories for Claudio Reyna, thanks to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Early round soccer matches were played in Birmingham and Captain America scored early in the opening match against Argentina before a partisan crowd of over 83,000.

"I remember the crowd reaction gave us big lift when I scored," he recalled. "The whole atmosphere was great. I am sure the crowd won't be as big this time, but we are hoping for that same level of energy from the fans versus Guatemala."

Ole!

I would have gone over to Mexico City and pulled for the US last Sunday but I kind of like living. It would have been like someone going to the HUC dressed in Arizona attired for one of our UAB games... well, it would have been worse than that!

Sunday's game would not have been a good place for a USA fan to be, especially had we won!!!

Two questions:

1. What are Guatemala's colors? I want to wear a UAB hat, so I need to know which color to wear

2. In the article Matt posted, it said the visiting fans sat in the North endzone seats the last game at Legion. Has this changed? I ask b/c Matt said the North Sect is the place to be a crazy US hooligan.


The weather is gonna be GREAT! I'm in.

Sams Army has been given section A and half of B in the north endzone The sams army section is pretty much general admission as they orginnize it so that the people with drums and the people who wil sing and chant the whole game are in the center, as it is easier to get the rest of the section ot follow along then. The rest of the north end zone probably will be mostly guatemalan supporters.


Guatemala wears light blue/white jerseys. So dont wear blue and you should be fine :)

BTR Wrote:I would have gone over to Mexico City and pulled for the US last Sunday but I kind of like living. It would have been like someone going to the HUC dressed in Arizona attired for one of our UAB games... well, it would have been worse than that!

Sunday's game would not have been a good place for a USA fan to be, especially had we won!!!

They probably wouldn't let you into the stadium :)

Well, I bought my ticket. I'm in Section 20, North Endzone.

get there early if you can shard, our section is being treated as general admission by the Sam's Army folks and it is by rule of the section standing only, so we have room for a few more. I will pobably be getting their at 5:15ish and will be going inside the stadium just as soon as I can to secure a good spot :)

Looks like the Park board is sticking to their operation of the gates. They're supposedly going to start allowing people to begin parking around 3PM and the game starts at 7PM. There are alot of fans coming from across the US for this match (from 41 states now in fact). Hopefully they're not disappointed in the turnout, concessions, or facilities. I would love to see Birmingham's relationship with US soccer continue.

I wonder if the presidential group from Guatemala has arrived yet in Birmingham.

I will watch on ESPN 2.