Who's Your Audience

I’ve never been much on USA soccer. This is probably due in large part to my husband’s zeal for English Premiership Football and our subscriptions to both Fox Soccer Channel and Setanta Sports. Just in sheer coverage alone, MLS is an infant in the sport. So whenever we do happen upon a game that’s covered on ESPN, I usually don’t give it much couch time. My mind was changed last night, however, when I witnessed an international friendly that rivaled some of the better Premiership games because of the energy on the field and also because of the fans.

The friendly between the US and Argentina was played in front of a record-breaking crowd at Giant Stadium. Fans numbered somewhere in the ballpark of 78,000. I’ve never been to a live event but when football is on the television, there is nothing more profound than the sound of the crowd shouting or singing in unison for their team. The crowd becomes its own entity, bellowing its support or disdain for the denizens of the pitch. Never have I witnessed this phenomenon during an MLS event…that is, until last night. If I hadn’t known any better, I would have thought the fans were a bunch of hooligans! The most impressive moment was when the National Anthem was played and the crowd sang with the music while hoards of them supported American flags. You won’t see that at no stinkin Sunday Night Football match! Even at minute 84 when a downpour occurred, the fans stood their ground and veered, mesmerized by the play.

Echoing the energy in the stands was the happenings on the field, with Pablo Mastroeni getting thrown off in the latter half of the game for unsporting behavior and Donovan dropping the eff-bomb as he limps off the pitch in agony post tackle. All was well in the end with a score of 0-0 for USA who proved that they may just have a solid chance to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.