U.S vs Honduras- The Fan Experience

Hi! We’re the Red, White and Blues Brothers and this is our color-coded U.S. Soccer blog. Chip writes in red and Danny writes in blue. We cheer for the U.S. and you better too!

Happy 4th of July- This is OUR HOLIDAY! Hooray for The Red, White and Blue, Brother! Here's our recap of our fan experience attending the U.S. vs. Honduras World Cup Qualifier.

A great time was had by The Red White and Blues Brothers as Chip and I saw our first game together in 2013. Chip is living in Salt Lake City so I flew out from Chicago for 3 days of Fun, Food and Football. In 2009, Chip saw his first U.S. game, which was also our first U.S. game together. Ironically, it was USA vs. Honduras and a World Cup Qualifier for the 2010 World Cup. The game in 2009 took us by surprise. U.S. fans are used to being in the minority when we play Mexico in big American cities like Chicago or LA, but when we showed up to Soldier Field in Chicago, we were shocked to see Honduras fans were in the overwhelming majority. To make things even harder for us, our U.S. Supporter section was divided between the 100 and 300 level with Honduras fans filling up the 200 level.

Yeah, well if it was MY FIRST game ever, then it stands to reason it was OUR FIRST game together too... seems a bit redundant Danny. Not necessarily! What if I wasn’t there? It is possible you could have gone to the game without me... you wouldn't do that though... would you?   Hmmm, Yes, I think I probably would! I do remember that game well and was shocked to see so many Honduran fans at the game. I thought USA soccer had come farther than that, but apparently not yet. It was still an electrifying game for me, being my first time and just being in the atmosphere of it all.

This was going to be a much different situation. Playing in the intimate Rio Tinto Stadium, Real Salt Lake’s soccer specific stadium was chosen because we would have the home field advantage with a pro-U.S. crowd. The capacity is listed at just over 20,000 and it sold out within a few days.
The game in Chicago had 55,000 mostly Honduran fans.

Once again we were surprised to see large groups of fans wearing the blue and white of Honduras.  I think it was still a pro-U.S. crowd but Honduras was definitely well-represented.

Different is certainly putting it mildly Danny. I would almost prefer to have had more Honduran fans there to be honest. It would have made for a more exciting crowd (I said almost!) I would say our crowd was about 70% American. On one hand it was good to see more Americans at the game, but on the other hand Americans sure are sedate when it comes to soccer! I mean, let's see... Danny brought a drum to the game and there was only ONE other drum in the whole stadium!! (Actually, a few Honduras fans had drums but we only had two in the U.S. Supporter Section) AND that one came from Iowa for God's sake! Come on Utah! If you want more USA games in Salt Lake, I suggest getting a little more positive energy in the stadium. The only time the crowd really got going was when a Honduran player went down and the crowd chanted "let him die". To be honest I was a bit disgusted by it. I know players dive and stuff and pretend they are in agony, but using our energy to antagonize that AND to even suggest someone should die for it is appalling to me. Yeah, I agree. Unfortunately, too often the passionate fans have hatred towards the other players, the other fans and the other team. Many U.S. Supporters have a great sense of humor and they are super-clever. I like when we use playful humor in our chants and songs. Too many of them are negative and derogatory. The Red, White and Blues Brothers stand for unity through soccer and good sportsmanship. We have a blast interacting with the other team’s supporters before and after the games. We take pictures and drum and dance with them. It truly can be an international party. In 20 years of attending national team games, I can only recall one negative experience where a drunk Mexican fan stole my Uncle Sam hat after a game in Houston.  Can't we be loud and boisterous in a POSITIVE way to lift our team up and give them energy to help them win the game?! That is what a "12th man" is for in my opinion. And before all the feminists jump in, let me point out it was a Men's National Team game. If the women were playing, then it would be called a "12th woman". Whew, I could hear the wrath coming already on that one!

With that being said. I really did have a great time at the game, as I always do with Danny. I only wish we could have more passion in our country for the MNT. Danny and I went around the stadium after the game with Danny's drum and we had more Honduran fans dancing with us than American fans. I had to double check the scoreboard to make sure I didn't miss something and wondered if Honduras actually won the game. I hope tons of Americans go to Brazil and get to see and feel their passion for the game! Danny and I went there to experience it and it is a trip I will never forget. Especially since we wrote a book on it. Check it out at http://www.fieldsofpassion.net  We danced more in Brazil than I have danced in my lifetime. So go out and dance America! It is fun!

For the past year, U.S. Soccer has really become fan-friendly. Last May they started having a training session open to the public a day or two before the game. Recently, they started holding a pep rally the night before the game. Chip and I went down to the rally and were quite pleased. It was held in a medium-sized music venue. They played great videos on the big screen and had Q & A sessions with U.S. Soccer Federation president, Sunil Gulati, , former U.S. great Eddie Pope, current U.S. players Eddie Johnson, Jermaine Jones, Nick Rimando and coach Jurgen Klinsmann.  What a unique experience… and it was free!  

Yes, I really enjoyed the pep rally, Danny. I came away impressed with Jurgen and I feel he just might be the right guy for the job actually. I may not have said that a ear ago. My only regret is I didn’t step up to the microphone to pepper Jurgen about his substitution selections and his thought process in it all. Next time perhaps. Maybe that’s a good thing. If you got going they might have called Security and have you removed!

After the rally we helped out a TV reporter by being his colorful and cheering backdrop during his live remote. On Tuesday-game day we ran around getting last minute additions to our Red White and Blues Brothers uniforms and I needed some supplies for my sign I was making. Since the game was being broadcast on a jumbo-tron screen back home in Chicago’s Grant Park I made a sign that said, “MAKE SOME NOISE CHICAGO!” I know the cameraman filmed it more than once, but I didn’t hear from anyone who saw the sign on the air.



You can see all our other photos on our online photo album HERE

We also filmed scenes from my Castrol Correspondent video. The video was good enough to get me in the top semi-final round.  You can watch it and vote once a day from this link:
https://www.facebook.com/castrolusa?sk=app_362434780537080&app_data 

Thanks and Let's Go USA!