“I’m going to make a plea to the people in Orlando: We need you out supporting the U.S. team. I think the last time out in New York, we didn’t have the kind of venue that we need to
have in these games. That’s important. Hopefully we have a crowd that is very supportive of the U.S. team and they can maybe drown out the supporters of the visiting team if that’s the
case.”
-- U.S. national team coach
Bruce Arena on home support for the USA-Panama World Cup 2018 qualifier, the first U.S. game played at Orlando City Stadium. (
Orlando Sentinel)
Amen!
As soon as I saw the venues for the last two home games I was miffed.
New York was a stupid place to play Costa Rica. The largest Costa Rican community outside of Costa Rica. No home field advantage. US Soccer needs to wisen up with it's site selections.
Hopefully the Orlando crowd will have more of a home feel.
Seattle, Portland, Salt Lake, Cincy, Columbus, Kansas City, New England all are great areas where our fans will outnumber the visitors by a huge margin and give the players that psychological lift that their country cares about them and the outcome of the games.
I am sure that USSF has some smart business reasons for the locations of the matches this year, but, if they aren't careful, they will outsmart us right out of qualification.