USA-ARGENTINA National Teams- Giants Stadium June 8

[Dane96]

I am sitting with Frank Dell'APA, writer at the Globe and ESPN for soccer. Apparently, the contract dictates the FULL-ARGENTINIAN squad must come (FIFA A FRIENDLY), so all the boys will be here! ARGENTINA IS THE CURRENT #1 RANKED SQUAD IN THE WORLD BY FIFA

For those interested in attending, I got an e-mail from a buddy yesterday. Pre-sale tickets started yesterday for USSOCCER.COM fans. On Friday, a special PRE-SALE for ALL VISA CARD HOLDERS will start.

Regular sale starts on Monday at Noon.

Thankfully my buddy gave me his pass-code. Within minutes the thing started filling up...my seats went from all USA section Row 4 to Row 32 in minutes.

So, I chose to sit with the "MIXED USA-ARGENTINE PRE-SALE GROUP" and I got SIX tickets in the 6th row.

Location: Equivalency of the 30 yard line. Most of the time, close seats don't work...but the elevation of Giants Stadium makes this the perfect seat to be close...yet see the run of play.

YEP...I AM PRETTY PSYCHED. If by some miracle we pull off a victory against Spain (#4) or England (#11) --I think we have a shot at the latter-- the place will be CRAZED between the US fans and the Argentinians.

If any of my AGS brothers want to try and use the pass-code I was given, shoot me a PM. Not sure if it works twice but I will be more than happy to lend it if you want to try the pre-sale from now until tomorrow.\

Coming off a victory in Europe (a resounding one) over #24 Poland, the team is slowly coming together ahead of schedule.

xthumbsupx

[bandl]

When is the match?

[Dane96]

Sunday, June 8 at 730pm.

[bandl]

Sunday, June 8 at 730pm.

Figures....that's the weekend of my bachelor party, followed by a Tom Petty concert that night. Enjoy! xthumbsupx

[Blue Hen Nation]

I might have to make the trip up 95. Awesome!

[TheValleyRaider]

That's great! xnodx

Travelling to Europe, getting a side like Argentina to play here. This can only pay dividends in both 2010 and 2014 if we can keep it up xnodx

[jessesd]

I'll be there,
Section 129 row Z..... this is the most I ever paid for a soccer match in my life!!! roughly between the 40/30th yard lines and I assume over 20 rows up

[Dane96]

I am right opposite you! How fantastic is the pre-sale.

Let's try to meet up before hand if you would like! My friend who is coming is a GATOR!!!

[jessesd]

Sure.... I'll be the only one wearing the "USA jersey"....
Just kidding on that one!! since I'm on the USA side, most likely I'll be surrounded by "Sam's Army"
I'll get more details as we get close to the match, we'll be in town the whole weekend.

[Dane96]

Yeah...I chose to NOT go with Sam's Army because if I was paying nearly a "C-NOTE" on the tix...I wanted to be closer. I am in the MIXED section.

I sat in similar seats for Brazil-Mexico at Gillette...and I have been in the front row for Sevilla-Levante (opening Match of La Liga two years ago). My English matches have been nosebleeds.

[jessesd]

Yeah...I chose to NOT go with Sam's Army because if I was paying nearly a "C-NOTE" on the tix...I wanted to be closer. I am in the MIXED section.

I sat in similar seats for Brazil-Mexico at Gillette...and I have been in the front row for Sevilla-Levante (opening Match of La Liga two years ago). My English matches have been nosebleeds.


correction.... 3 c-notes a tix for me!!! Ouch!!!

[Dane96]

WHAT? Wow...that sucks.

Far cry from the 20 Euro on game day morning with backpack and flip-flops on at the ticket booth in Sevilla.

"No speak English-- point to where sit...dis abailable"

I could hardly contain excitement as she pointed to 6 seats in the front row. I have great youtube videos of those seats.

Best 20 Euro I have ever spent!

[jessesd]

It reminds me of my Grad School days in Rotterdam.... Feyenoord accross the river from my aparment (walking distance), not a bad seat in the house and the chep tix were always great places to seat and Excelsior FC pitch accross from the Schol of Economics. they always let us in for free as long they were not playing Sparta FC the other town team or Feyenoord ..I saw PSV and others for free several times

[Grizalltheway]

Should be a great match to see in person. I was amazed at how good the atmosphere was for Austria-Netherlands, given that it was a friendly and Austria is terrible.

[Blue Hen Nation]

Just got six tickets through work.
:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

[Dane96]

Maybe an AGS tailgate?

[TheValleyRaider]

I watched on TV

We looked pretty good xnodx

Lots of attacking, guys like Adu, Edu and Donovan (xeekx) looked strong in attack

Refereeing was pretty rough, especially the Red to Mastroeni (WTF? xconfusedx). Also didn't like that he stopped the game when the US had a free kick in with at least 15 seconds to go. Still, great effort to see, especially after the England debacle and the tough loss at Spain

Should be fun to see them finally score some goals against Barbados next Sunday xnodx

Anyone else here watch the game without actually being there?

[BlueHen86]

I watched on TV

We looked pretty good xnodx

Lots of attacking, guys like Adu, Edu and Donovan (xeekx) looked strong in attack

Refereeing was pretty rough, especially the Red to Mastroeni (WTF? xconfusedx). Also didn't like that he stopped the game when the US had a free kick in with at least 15 seconds to go. Still, great effort to see, especially after the England debacle and the tough loss at Spain

Should be fun to see them finally score some goals against Barbados next Sunday xnodx

Anyone else here watch the game without actually being there?
What was the score?

[UNHWildCats]

0-0

[BlueHen86]

0-0
Thanks.

[bluehenbillk]

Watched about 30 mins of that game (the last 30 min), solely b/c there's a guy I work with who's from Argentina. I'd like to have that 30 minutes back if possible.

Impressions:

1- in 30 minutes of game action there wasn't 1 save made by a goalie.
2- it's a myth about how much these guys run, i saw about 4 times when people actually sprinted
3- some of the dives, ugh, too much theatrics
4- how often does a team go down 1-0 in soccer & come back to win, is it the equivalent of being up going into the 9th inning?

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[ISUMatt]

3 straight games without a goal, yeap we are looking solid

[TheValleyRaider]

3 straight games without a goal, yeap we are looking solid

They get Barbados next, I'm not terribly concerned about the goal-scoring at the moment xcoolx

[tribe_pride]

Watched about 30 mins of that game (the last 30 min), solely b/c there's a guy I work with who's from Argentina. I'd like to have that 30 minutes back if possible.

Impressions:

1- in 30 minutes of game action there wasn't 1 save made by a goalie.
2- it's a myth about how much these guys run, i saw about 4 times when people actually sprinted
3- some of the dives, ugh, too much theatrics
4- how often does a team go down 1-0 in soccer & come back to win, is it the equivalent of being up going into the 9th inning?

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Watch some of the Euro 08 games. Those are a lot better (except for maybe the dives)

[Grizalltheway]

Watch some of the Euro 08 games. Those are a lot better (except for maybe the dives)

Don't worry, Italy will be out soon. xnodx xlolx

[Dane96]

Watched about 30 mins of that game (the last 30 min), solely b/c there's a guy I work with who's from Argentina. I'd like to have that 30 minutes back if possible.

Impressions:

1- in 30 minutes of game action there wasn't 1 save made by a goalie.
2- it's a myth about how much these guys run, i saw about 4 times when people actually sprinted
3- some of the dives, ugh, too much theatrics
4- how often does a team go down 1-0 in soccer & come back to win, is it the equivalent of being up going into the 9th inning?

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Whatever.

I was at the game...and believe me, I have been to some BIG TIME sporting events in my life; This game had a World Cup feel too it. Stadium was packed (9th Largest US National Team crowd....largest in Giants Stadium history).

As for the running...they jog most of the game and cover some serious ground.

As for the dives-- South American teams (and Italian) are KNOWN for it. It is a horror show...and we were going nuts. FIFA is actually implementing new rules and giving AUTOMATIC YELLOWS based on replay reviews of dives.


As for goal scoring- Both goalies, particularly Howard though, played amazing. Game could have had at least 5 legit goals.

[AZGrizFan]

Watched about 30 mins of that game (the last 30 min), solely b/c there's a guy I work with who's from Argentina. I'd like to have that 30 minutes back if possible.

Impressions:

1- in 30 minutes of game action there wasn't 1 save made by a goalie.
2- it's a myth about how much these guys run, i saw about 4 times when people actually sprinted
3- some of the dives, ugh, too much theatrics
4- how often does a team go down 1-0 in soccer & come back to win, is it the equivalent of being up going into the 9th inning?

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Hen,

You know how you defend hockey to the death? And I felt this EXACT SAME WAY about hockey until I went and saw a couple Capitals games in person. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that soccer is much the same way....game doesn't translate well to TV, you don't get some of the subtleties of the game through the screen....I know I've been to a lot of 1-0 soccer games that were exciting as hell.

Food for thought...

[bluehenbillk]

Hen,

You know how you defend hockey to the death? And I felt this EXACT SAME WAY about hockey until I went and saw a couple Capitals games in person. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that soccer is much the same way....game doesn't translate well to TV, you don't get some of the subtleties of the game through the screen....I know I've been to a lot of 1-0 soccer games that were exciting as hell.

Food for thought...

Good points, but I will say I certainly don't defend hockey, in fact I think it's fallen from inclusion of still being a major sport in this country. Ironic that you bring that up b/c I can equate a soccer game to a Stanley Cup Playoff overtime game with the intensity, at least on the World Cup level. Still, I find it pretty boring and would rather watch pretty much anything over soccer, sorry, the majority of Americans feel the same way.