Totally Golden

GOAL!!!! Eddie Johnson celebrates his goal

It only took 27 years, but I finally saw the USA Men's National Soccer team live in person!  And let me tell you, it was totally worth the wait. 

Setting: Gold Cup, July, M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore
Game:  USA vs El Salvador, Costa Rica vs Honduras

Some of the crazy costumes to be found

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when pulling up to Baltimore, but I can tell you that I was absolutely astounded by the scene that greeted me.  Bumper-to-Bumper traffic, buses of Honduras fans, and people stationed at the off ramp to the stadium selling jerseys/hats/any other merchandise you can think of for every team.  And the noise!  Jeez!  I'm pretty sure Americans were shocked...I could just see some people's faces wondering if somehow Christmas, aka the NFL season, had managed to come early without them knowing it.  Because let me tell you, a NFL tailgate had nothing on the scene at the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup. 

Not going to lie, as much fun as we had at the games, we definitely made some rookie mistakes.  Mistake one?  Choosing the wrong section!  We could see the huge USA section just four aisles away..but that four sections felt like miles!  Because not only did we not sit near any USA fans...we someone managed to pick the one section filled with El Salvadorian fans.  In a stadium where El Salvidor fans only made up 5% of the fans, of course we somehow managed to sit right by them right?  And let me tell you, they were not happy campers.  Then again, losing 5 to 1 can't really be that pleasant for anyone.  Mistake two?  Getting seats in the middle of the aisle.  In general, I felt pretty safe, but you could tell that the stadium was clearly unprepared for the number of fans who showed up.  People were standing in the aisle with no security telling them to move, so as I was getting death glares from the person in front of me after every USA goal, all I could think was it would take a long time for help to get to where we were if an altercation started.  Since soccer tends to bring out the crazy in people, its best to make sure you sit somewhere with a quick escape root.  So overall lesson?  Be careful and strategic in your seat choice. 

USA team members salute the fans after win

If you are going to go to a game, it's best when your team ends up winning, and when they win by 4 goals?  Well, even better!  Domination doesn't even begin to describe the smack down that happened.  And hey, we aren't that far removed from being one of the worse CONCACAF teams, so it was crazy to see how far we've come.  And as a huge Landon fan, the fact that he was responsible for every goal (1 goal, 4 assists) was really cool to see. 

All in all, my first national team experience lived up to all my expectations.   The fans were loud, the atmosphere was fun and the soccer was great!