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The SBI Show: Episode 39 (Previewing USA-Jamaica, a look at the U.S. U-20 World Cup team; and more)

Clint Dempsey

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By IVES GALARCEP

With World Cup qualifying set to resume on Friday for the U.S. Men’s National Team in Jamaica, Episode 39 of The SBI Show takes a closer look at the looming USA-Jamaica qualifier and much more.

Co-host Garrett Cleverly and I discuss the U.S. team’s chances of recording their first qualifying win in Jamaica, and the lineup we could see take the field against the Reggae Boyz.

We also discuss the U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team, which will announce its roster for the Under-20 World Cup later this week.

As always, we also touch on MLS< with a look ahead to MLS Week 15, and much more.

Give Episode 39 of The SBI Show a listen after the jump:

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What do you think of the show? Agree with our predictions for the outcome? Like the projected Under-20 World Cup roster? Starting to have similar questions about Ricardo Salazar officiating Seattle Sounders matches?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Garrett: Every time Ives brings up his DC United prediction, you have to remind him about his Montreal prediction where he forecasts Montreal will be a weak team and questions ownership’s decision to hire this coach. Haha. Great show as usual. Best soccer podcast!

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  2. Just to clarity for turf haters who may not be aware, both the Seattle vs. Vancouver and U.S. vs. Panama matches will be played on a temporary grass surface.

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  3. I don’t get all the hate for Garrett. I really like him as part of the show. C’mon man step on back from that ledge.

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  4. Seattle GM was on Extra Time podcast stating the ticket sales over 37k and that he expects it to reach over 40k on the day.

    This has been talked about over and over recently but I can tell you straight up that I am going by myself and not taking the family because it would cost us a small fortune.

    I just dropped $110 on a single ticket to see the USMNT.
    If I had my way I would:
    Hit Soccer Bar for USA/Jamaica – food + a few beers $25
    Family of 3 to Seattle/Vancouver – tickets average $150 for 3,
    Parking $20, food and drink $75. That is only allowing 2 $10 beers a piece for me and the wife.

    USA/Panama – tickets I bought $110 x 3, parking will be $30, food and drink $75.

    The next five days could cost upwards of $705 and that is not including Seattle Reign playing Kansas City on Sunday.
    I am sure people are doing what they can to support soccer here. It’s just damn expensive. Not to mention the Mariners are playing across the street and there has been virtually zero advertising for the game. Just this morning a local radio jockey mentioned every game coming up besides the USA game.

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  5. Regarding to ticket sales for national and club matches, around the world, Club games usually sell more tickets than national team matches, whether it be Liverpool vs Tottenham compared to England vs Wales, or Seattle vs Portland compared to USA vs Panama, club games usually sell more. Games at Wembley, for instance, Club competitions at Wembley usually sell out while International matches usually don’t all the time. Seattle won’t sell out their stadium for the WCQ, and shouldn’t be expected to. In the case of USA vs Germany, which was nearly sold out, you can’t go a 3 hours drive around DC without being in a heavy populated area, but in the case of Cascadia region, it is unpopulated. In Seattles case, you have soccer fans from Seattle and Portland that will attend a friendly or WCQ there, but just east of them it is mountains and farm land, where hardly anyone lives. South of Portland is once again, farmlands for hundreds of miles until you reach mid California. It’s more isolated so it will be less people than at DC or NY. I actually live in Central PA, and let me tell you, if there was an WCQ held in Harrisburg PA, and let’s say that there was a 50,000 stadium there, it would only sell probably 20,000 from the immediate Harrisburg area and smaller PA cities. People from across the country and world would have to fly into Philly or Pittsburgh on long hours of flights, then would have to drive probably 4 to 5 hours after that to get to Harrisburg, or wait for a smaller flight that holds 100 people to fly to Harrisburg, no one will want to do that at all. For the WCQ in Seattle, yes you will get people that will fly in from around the country, but those are either people with money, or people with sports connections like yourself or any other reporter/journalist. That only makes up for a small portion of people attending the match though. The vast majority of people attending the match will be people from Portland and Seattle itself, probably 3/4 of the attendance. Out of the 55,000 that would attend a Seattle vs Portland match, a lot will not show up for a WCQ because of the price difference. Most Cascadia soccer fans are season ticket holders, and spend hundreds of dollars a year on their club teams and can’t be expected to fork out more for WCQ games. So out of that 55,000 that might show in a Cascadia match, only 30,000 to 40,000 will show up for a WCQ. So Seattle does have a justifiable excuse as to why their stadium will not be filled for the WCQ. Prices, for one, and two, because of the surrounding area. Seattle is isolated, to the east, you have farms and no major city really until you get to Minneapolis, Minnesota if you look at the maps. To the south, once again, you have Portland. If Seattle doesn’t sell out, which they won’t at this rate, it is perfectly ok, as long as they make a lot of noise for the boys in Red, white, and blue. If they can make it a hostile environment for Panama, that’s all that matters, because you don’t need a sell out crowd in the Cascadia region to make a lot of noise. As long as the city of Seattle can make it loud in the stadium, they should have the right to host more WCQ games, but if they remain quiet, then yes, they shouldn’t be allowed to have more matches. The game will not be completely sold out, but, as long as they show loud support, that’s all that matters!

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      • Sort of, the game has still sold quite well I believe 30,000 plus but I was hoping it would do better. Also USSF did screw up a bit with the ticket pricing, a bit to much

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