It's your big chance to see U.S. soccer team at Toyota Park
Wednesday marks a historic day in Chicago soccer history.
The United States men will play their first World Cup qualifier in the Chicago area, meeting Trinidad and Tobago in a CONCACAF semifinal-round match at Toyota Park in Bridgeview.
Major League Soccer is fun, and I really enjoy catching Champions League matches on ESPN2 during the winter, but I bleed red, white and blue. This is a match I've been waiting a long time to see.
I only wish more people shared my enthusiasm.
As of noon Monday, just 8,500 tickets had been sold for the 20,000-seat stadium. U.S. Soccer officials do expect a good walk-up crowd, but you'd have to think a sellout is unlikely.
That's too bad.
There are several possible reasons for the slow advance ticket sales.
• This is, after all, just a semifinal-round match, and T&T is hardly a world power. Nobody's going to get excited about the chance to see Cornell Glen.
• There's the soft economy.
• It's a Wednesday night during the school year, making it hard for families, including mine, to attend. Don't blame U.S. Soccer for that. The U.S. Soccer Federation is told when it will host the matches, then it tries to find an available stadium.
• If you want to knock the federation, say it didn't publicize the game enough. It didn't.
• Finally, the competition is fierce. There are many chances for Chicago soccer fans to see good matches, including well-known teams from Europe and Mexico. And the gold-medal-winning women's team plays Sept. 20 at Toyota Park.
But after victories in difficult conditions at Guatemala and Cuba, it would be nice to welcome the Americans back home with a big, boisterous home crowd.
"It's tough when you've got two games on the road, but now we're coming home and we want to come out strong and be aggressive," former Fire midfielder DaMarcus Beasley said after Monday's soggy training session in Bridgeview. "Hopefully we can do that and get another 3 points."
A win Wednesday would all but clinch a pass into the final round for the Americans, giving coach Bob Bradley a chance to get more young players experience in the qualifiers and get them ready for 2010.
"We want to get it out of the way as quickly as possible because it's a short group. With only three other teams in the group, there's not much room for slip-up," added former Fire defender Carlos Bocanegra. "If we get this next win we're looking good."
Hopefully, the Americans will be greeted with a true home crowd, not a home stadium two-thirds filled with fans cheering the visitors.
"It's kind of what we're used to," Beasley said. "When we play in the States, we're still kind of the underdog. We still don't have the same home crowd. But at the same time, I don't think there are a lot of Trinidad people in Chicago, so hopefully we'll get a good home crowd, hopefully it'll be a sellout and we'll give the guys a show."
"We're really looking forward to getting back here," Bocanegra added. "Chicago in general always has good soccer fans, and hopefully they get behind us even more for the qualifier."
oschwarz@dailyherald.com