With tonight marking the grand opening of Real Salt Lake’s new home, Rio Tinto Stadium, I couldn’t help but start to think about what were my most memorable soccer stadium experiences.
Think about it. What were the most memorable soccer stadium trips, moments or experiences in your history as a soccer fan? Was it a World Cup match? An MLS playoff match? Some European or South American match you were lucky enough to score tickets to?
Soccer stadium openings usually rank pretty high on such lists, but not always. I can recall attending the opening of Pizza Hut Park and while it was a good night with a good crowd, that game doesn’t really stand out in my mind for best experiences.
Here are three experiences that stood out in my mind as being among the best soccer stadium visits/moments:
Old Trafford, 2003
I was on assignment in Manchester England for a series of stories for the Herald News. Part of the trip included attending a Manchester Derby. Walking to Old Trafford that day and seeing the fans pour into that cathedral of soccer was a sight to behold, from the shielded Manchester City fans, to the loud chorus of sungs from the Stretford End. I can only imagine how much louder it would have been if Manchester United had actually won. (Side note- Tim Howard was in goal for Manchester United while Red Bulls head coach Juan Carlos Osorio was a Man City assistant and Claudio Reyna a Man City midfielder.
Signal Iduna Park, 2006
World Cup 2006 featured an unforgettable semifinal between Germany and Italy. Borussia Dortmund’s home stadium is one of the most imposing venues you will find because of the acoustics and promixity of fans to the field. I was fortunate enough to have press seats three rowns behind the Germany bench. I could have hit Juergen Klinsmann with a piece of gum, but chose not to. The Germany fans were out in force, but even more impressive was the haunting silence after Italy scored a pair of late goals to win and move a step closer to the World Cup final.
Estadio Azteca, 2005
Pulling up to the Mexican national team’s preferred stadium was a memorable moment. With no really large buildings in the vicinity, Azteca looks even more imposing than you would expect from a venue that seats more than 100,000 spectators. I remember writing that the stadium looked like Godzilla terrorizing a countryside. The U.S. national team was overwhelmed by a Mexican team that fed off the energy of the crowd (the heat and altitude didn’t help the Americans either). I must admit that I hope I live to attend a match in Azteca won by the United States. I can only imagine what the crowd would be like on that day.
Now it’s your turn. What is your most memorable stadium experience? Share your experiences below.
I haven’t been to a World Cup yet, so I can’t speak on that front, but a couple that stand out from my experiences are:
US-Poland 2007 U-20 WC Olympic Stadium Montreal – The greatest performance I have ever seen by a US soccer team. A 6-1 drubbing of the Poles who had previously knocked off Brazil. The crowd was one sided… anti American. By the end of the match, the Poles were walking up to the group of American fans shaking hands commending us for our display of on field dominance.
US – Honduras Gold Cup Semifinal Giants Stadium – The most intimidating atmosphere I have experienced thus far. The Hondos outnumbered the American supporters what seemed like a good 30 to 1. They were loud boisterous and held a lead into the final 10 minutes of a match. John O’Brien’s goal was a knockdown, but Oguchi Onyewu’s brilliant header off a Landon Donovan free kick absolutely knocked all the wind out of Honduras. The goal celebration was memorable as well as Onyewu ran across the field with Beasley on his back.
USA v Mexico 2002 World Cup
USA v Portugal 2002 World Cup
Need I say more?
1.) The “Guerra Fria” 2001 – US vs Mexico at Crew Stadium. I booked a hotel where the Mexicans were staying and the night before the match we planted wind-up alarm clocks outside many of their rooms! Match day was great . . . The Tri players coming out with gloves, hats, etc . . . sitting with Sam’s Army . . . Wolf’s goal and assist . . . and the start of our 2-0 victories against the ex Kings of Concacaf.
2.) US – Mexico WCQ rematch in Columbus 2001. Great pre-match atmosphere and fun to sit next to a large, loud Mexican contingent and watch them disappear with each goal we scored.
3.) WC 1994 – Germany vs. Bulgaria Quarterfinal. Fun to see Bulgaria’s upset.
4.) WC 1994 – Italy vs. Ireland. Ireland wins on a cracker of a goal!
Wow Ives, you need to place a permanent bookmark for this thread on your front page, these are great stories. Here’s my top 4 (no great results but great games regardless):
1) US v Italy WC 2006, Kaiserslautern — I truly believe the US fans made a difference in this game and lifted our team to another level. What seemed like certain fisticuffs b/w Italian and American fans to go down after the game turned into weary, smiling handshakes with the Italians impressed by our team and our support level. Never mind nearly getting stranded near France after the match by catching the wrong bus!
2) US v Costa Rica WCQ 2000, Saprissa — business connections afforded me this trip. Crowd was there hours before kickoff, and the noise was cacophonous like a tornado just walking in. My seats were on the “40” probably three rows from the field. Major drama at the end with Reyna and Arena both absolutely losing their mind at Pendergast after the phantom-like late PK award. TV didn’t show all the chaos and protests.
3) US v Honduras WCQ 2001, DC — RFK was absolutely rocking at 9:30am in front of a 50/50 split crowd, with about 30 minutes to go before kickoff. Stunning loss.
4) US v Mexico WCQ 2001, Azteca — group of about 150 diehards made the trip and got pelted with rocks and garbage inside. Some cool MX fans stood with us to try and forge some unity and common sense. Thought the US would pull off the equalizer but it didn’t happen.
God, I’m jealous of all the people listing World Cup games. I hope to get to a World Cup game some day.
Anyway…
2002 or 2003 (I forget the year) – El Monumental, Buenos Aires – River vs Boca Superclasico.
Late 70s/Early 80s – Cosmos games at Giants Stadium. I was a wee tyke, but this is how I remember soccer growing up.
US vs Argentina – 2008, Giants Stadium. Just a friendly, but I’d never been to a national team game before.
1990 World Cup, Italy, Naples, Argentina vs. Russia: Maradona putting on the display of his life in front of delerious Napoli fans. Truly unreal.
WC 2006 – Italy v USA and Czech v USA. Both matches were memorable for me, the Czech game for how truly miserably we played and how crazy it was to sit 11 or 12 rows up at midfield, and the Italian game for the highs and lows. Red card for Italy and the Italian section sits, two reds for the US and the supporters roar back to life. Can’t say I’ve ever liked Mastroeni since that day, just a horrible decision to go in two-footed. Can’t say I’ve liked Italians either since they were loudly booing our national anthem.
Craig:
Have to agree with you on the Bulgaria v. West Germany match at Giants Stadium in ’94. Aside from Stoichkov, Letchov stood out as well. We were in the stands with a bunch of Brazil fans (quirk of fate that Brazil was NOT playing there that day).
Its amazing how quickly they joined the Bulgarian Bandwagon. What a great atmosphere and match. A classic…
My most memorable experience so far was in May 2007 when I was in Bucharest, Romania and I attended a Dinamo Bucharest match in Dinamo Stadium. Admittedly, the stadium is a total dump, but that didn’t take away from the atmosphere at all. Being a born and raised American, I’m am not used to a crowd so fanatic in their chanting, jumping and singing. But the Dinamo fans sang the entire match, especially because the week before Dinamo clinched the Liga I championship and were going to be playing their first home match as “campeoni”, which was the most popular chant of the day. It was electric and memorable the highlight of the trip for me.
1. Giants Stadium – Any Cosmos Game. Hearing Carly Simon’s “Nobody Does it Better” makes me well up inside.
2. Giants Stadium- Marlboro Cup. Back in the late 80’s/early 90’s, when nearly half the US team was from NJ, the US used to play teams like Flamingo, Sporting and Benfica in this small tournament. I don’t know how they did it, but a bunch of guys from Kearney led by Meola’s brother got a cooler of beer into the stadium. For a high school kid, that was pretty cool.
3. RFK, September 2000; US 1 – Guatamala 0 in a Qualifier. My wife and I got dropped off by a cab with a case of beer and no tickets to the sold out match. Picked up a couple of tickets from Sams Army and had a blast.
1. Penarol(Uruguay) vs Real Madrid (Spain) at the Centenario in Montevideo, 1966. South American club champion vs European club champion. Penarol 2-1. Magic. First match ever. Been hooked ever since.
2. USA vs Costa Rica in WCQ match in Portland, OR. Electric crowd and we won to go thru.
Three (3) come to mind immediately – the dismal US loss to Czech in the Schalke Arean at WC 06 (great atmosphere), the WC 94 game between Germany & Spain at Soldier Field, and the 1983 US Open Cup Finals in San Antonio. Though we lost to Kutis of St. Louis in the semis and I just rode the pine, it was a great environment/ experience.
I’ll weigh in…
1. USA vs. Italy in Germany in 2006: amazing experience before, during, and after the game… when Beasley scored the apparent winner i thought the place was going to cave in from the noise… also, yelling O-H and hearing I-O in every city we were in while in Germany was great… but singing “We Don’t Give a Damn for the Whole State of Michigan” and having about 50 random people join us as we were walking away from the Stadium was priceless…
2. U.S. vs. Mexico in Columbus (both times): We froze our butts off the 1st time… nice day the 2nd time around… dos a cero each time… great experiences both…
3. Croatia vs. Brazil in Germany in 2006: the game was OK… great goal by Kaka… but the impressive thing was the Croatians in the stand… simply an amazing and powerful experience to actually FEEL the sense of national pride these people felt… and when one young fan burst through “security” to get onto the field to kneel in front of Prso to try to kiss his feet, it was awesome to see the grace Prso displayed by helping the kid up (not letting him kiss his feet), putting his arm around him and walking him towards security…
4. Columbus Crew vs. New England Revolution – Ohio Stadium 1996: New England goes out in front through Welton and Naveda and the Crew are looking lost through the 1st half… out comes Yeagley, in goes Carrera at halftime and the game changes… McBride cuts the lead in half with a PK… then 2 goals in the final 5 minutes (Marino and McBride) and Crew wins the game… at the final whistle, the crowd of 25,000 goes nuts and spills out onto the field… i’ll never forget the look of sheer amazement and joy from the players as they saw the crowd on the field… but even more, i’ll never forget the looks on the faces of the security personnel as people went barreling past them… looks which seemed to say “holy crap… what the hell do we do now?!?!?!… i knew this soccer thing was gonna be crazy… soccer fans are crazy all over the world and now they brought this sh!t to Columbus freaking Ohio”…
There are probably more great stadium moments, but those were the ones that stick out from recent memory…
Cheers.
Dani
Germany v Poland – 2006 World Cup – Dortmund, Germany….
Host nation in a big stadium, it was massive…. great finish to the game as well…
US v Mexico, Crew Stadium, 2005 World Cup-berth clinching game about a week or so after Katrina leveled New Orleans.
Best pro-US crowd I’ve ever seen at a WCQ game in US (and I was part of it) and the team reaction to the fans after the game was fantastic. Oh, and Marquez playing like an orange cone was fun, too.
Nothing too special, but seeing Real Madrid vs Espanyol @the Berneabue (sp?) last March was really cool.
June 4, 1977 Wembley in the Home International Championship England vs Scotland. A home game for England with 60,000 Scots in attendance. Scotland won 2-1; our first win against England in years and the fans celebrated by invading the pitch, digging up the turf and taking the goals home. It was a day I will never forget.
have to agree with Chris
Brazil v Mexico in foxboro, it was awesome to see the Mexicans outnumbered 4-1, not to mention how the brazilian girls were dressed
Bernabeu, Real vs. Atletico derby.
I was an Atleti fan…they crammed us into the visitor section and surrounded us with two layers of police…had to sit inside the stadium for an hour after the game, then wait outside another 40 minutes while the police made us remove all of our Atletico colors and leave in small groups to avoid the roaming bands of Ultra skinheads.
Oh, did you mean “memorable” as in “good memories”…?
USA-Italy in Kaiserslautern in 2006. Incredible atmosphere in the town before the game all day long and one of the best matches I’ve ever seen.
1994 World Cup Final… Brazil Vs Italy at the Rose Bowl
$5 to sneak into the stadium and finding refuge behind the handicap wheelchair section near the goal that the penalty kicks were held was amazing!
from walking out of the tunnel into a packed stadium to walking out with the Samba of Brazil into the Pasadena streets.
definitely my most memorable soccer stadium experience.
It would have to be the only professional soccer game I have ever attended. Growing up in rural Oregon, you don’t get much. I traveled down to San Francisco for the USMNT international friendly vs Japan. It was a great game with a great atmosphere at Pac-Bell Park. If I remember correctly, the US got up 3-0, and then had to hold on to win 4-3. Certainly not the most important of games, but your first time always is special.
2006 World Cup – USA vs. Ghana – Yes, it wasn’t the best game in the history of US soccer. However, between bartering with the ticket scalpers to get tickets for my wife and I, seeing the stadium outside Nurnberg (pretty much right where Hitler gave many speeches), and then getting to sing the national anthem before a game that really and truly mattered…well, the whole experience was amazing.
Chivas vs. Pachuca, SuperLiga, Denver
Pachuca fans, as you can imagine were significantly outnumbered and the crowd with surprising enthusiasm (to an American) chanted “CHI-VAS, CHI-VAS!”. Pachuca won but the majority Chivas fans made for a great atmosphere.
Brazil vs. USA, Friendly, Chicago
Brazil fans (or should I say Mexicans posing as Brazilians) were out en masse for this fixture. What made it great was the debut of the American Outlaws (which I later joined) and the US playing with the best in the world. Had a few calls gone our way we would have tied.
Those are the few games that stand out in my short soccer life. I watched the game tonight and was envious of the Salt Lake fans. If only MLS would come to Indianapolis…=P
Domestic: Jamaica v US at RFK, WCQ in which Agoos gave up the tying goal. The place was rockin’…
Abroad: I got to see Barca in the CL, but it was in a late match with Barca already set to advance, so I would have to say US v Brazil in a 1-0 loss in Lyon for the Confed Cup in 2003. It was just a cool feeling to be at a soldout stadium in a foreign country cheering on my country. And I’ll never forget the stadium, where the urinals were around the outside wall, so that everyone could see your back as you did your business. No wonder the Ligue champs want a new stadium.
WC 2006. USA vs. Italy in kaiserslautern. GOD what an experience!
1. U.S. vs. Brazil 94 WC Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto Ca. We were badly outclassed but we had such fight and spirit.
2. My first English football match in 1988 @ Millwall. What animals- a love affair with soccer was born
3. Nigeria vs. Brazil 96 Olympics at the Orange Bowl in Miami. Greatest accumulation of talent I ever personally witnessed on one pitch.
La Bonbonera – 2007 Boca vs. River
I had terrible seats way up above the home stands. The stadium began swaying probably an hour before kickoff and didn’t stop for an hour after. It was the most amazing day of my life.
I scored front row seats at WHL last October for Spurs-Blackburn.
Loudest Man on the Planet: Mark Hughes
Best Cheer that Day: “Friedel is a wanker!!!”
Best Pub with Toothless Woman Bouncer: The Bell and Hare
Of course Spurs fell apart late and Blackburn won!
Ireland vs. Czech Republic in Prague Euro Qualifier. Wasted Irish dudes and riot police everywhere.
Arsenal vs. Slavia Prague It was probably 40 degrees and poured the entire game but I was in the Slavia Ultras end and they were going nuts the whole time.
It was said earlier, but….
Soldier Field, Chicago. Gold Cup Final 2007.
Feilhaber’s great goal to win it. I was right behind the goal and all 3 goals (2-1 usa) were scored in front of me. my section was basically 5% usa fans and after each goal, everybody just launched their beers at my 2 friends and myself
Liverpool 2-0 Manchester United 2003 League Cup final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff Wales when I lived in the UK.
Also Liverpool vs Bayer Leverkusen 2002 Champions League Quarter Final first leg at Anfield. Nothing beats a European night at Anfield. Liverpool won 1-0 but lost the tie 4-3 on aggregate I think.
Soldier Field – Gold Cup – USA(2) v. Mexico(1) !
What a game, what an atmosphere!
Ives, great topic. I love reading everyone’s posts. Can’t wait to attend another USMNT game soon.
USA – Mexico. Wed April 28, 2004 at the Cotton Bowl. 95% of the stadium was pro Mexico. Even the half time was in Spanish. Me and two of my buds made the three hour drive up from Austin and back that night. Eddie Pope scored in the 93rd minute to give us the 1-0 victory.
I will forever remember the look of disbelief and disgust from the legions of Mexicans around us.
MLS CUP 1997.
2004 ECF DC/NE @ RFK. (Still gives me goosebumps.)
Kaiserslautern.
USA/ARG last summer. (middling game, superb support.)
Italy/Ireland USA ’94.
My favorite match was at Stadion an der Alten Foersterei. It is the stadium of a third division team in Berlin and it was absolutely loads of fun. You have to walk through the woods to get there and the fans love their team. The atmosphere is way better than at the more famous Olypmia Stadion (at least when Hertha is playing).
1) US 1 – Italy 1. Fritz-Walter Stadion. Kaiserlautern, Germany. 06/17/06. We tied the world champions with 9 men. And we outplayed them. One of the greatest nights of my life.
2) US 2 – Mexico 0. Crew Stadium. Columbus, OH. 2/28/01. I love beating Mexico.
3) US 2 – Mexico 0. Crew Stadium. Columbus, OH. 9/3/05. The love story of 2-0 continues.
Two Games:
USA vs. Portugal 2002 WC in Korea
JMart had it right, that game was awesome – I’d been in Korea for less than 24 hours, we drank the bar dry before the game, and went in expecting to get trashed. 35 minutes in, we’re up 3-0, and the US supporters behind the goal were going insane. Glad we squeaked it out.
USA vs. South Korea 2002 WC in Korea
Although the result didn’t necessarily go our way with a 1-1 draw, it was amazing being in a stadium with 60,000 Koreans who were all cheering in unison. It was so loud in there that I could not hear myself think. People always say that when talking about how loud it is, but it was actually that loud. I literally could not hear myself think. And when Mathis got the goal, it was sweet hearing the stadium go dead silent, even if it only lasted for 30 seconds.
The 2007 Red Bull-Galaxy game at Giants Stadium was a good one. And though they were friendlies, the US-Argentina match and the Juve-Real match were also good ones.
Watching the Quakes score five unanswered goals to beat Los Angeles in the MLS playoffs at Spartan Stadium.
JS and I were at the same game – Parc des Princes, WC 1998, Germany and the U.S. Nothing could touch that atmosphere, at least in games I’ve attended.
K-town. Most definitely. I’ve never been prouder of our Yanks. There were times when we made ourselves heard to the world. It goes to show what an enthusiastic crowd can do in a stadium with a roof that really keeps the sound in.
I have to agree with the poster who said USA-Italy match. I too was sitting in the USSF section, it was unreal.
Perhaps the best part of the day was the fact that I lost my tix to the match and it didn’t look like I was going to be able to see it at all – I left them in a hotel room after the Czech Republic game. And I didn’t realize it until 8 hours before kickoff:(
Tried calling the number the fed gave us for lost tix, but it was a cell phone and no one was answering (I later found out that the woman’s battery had died!!!! Can you believe that????) We were in Frankfurt, but decided to go to the ticketing center in K-town to see if they could help us.
Anyhow, I got to the ticketing center…the guy there gave me a new number for someone else at the fed, and I left the guy a message. About 15-20 mins later he calls us back. Apparently, it was too late to issue replacements (it needed to be at least 3 hours before kickoff, IIRC) so even if they wanted to help me, there was nothing they could do. I was SO pissed, I’d been calling them all day, and had ample time to get replacements, only to have some idiot forget to charge her phone.
It was looking like we were screwed – in fact my friends had already started leaving – when I happened to spot an important looking person with lots of credentials hanging around his neck. Turns out he was the head of ticketing for the whole tournament (Chistian something or other, a man of great kindness). On the verge of tears, I told him my story – the lost tix, the dead cell phone.
So, on my behalf, he called the fed again and said after speaking with them, he said if there were still unclaimed hospitality tix at kickoff, we could have three. The guy at the fed took my info down to send me a bill, for the price of the tickets, but luckily one never arrived.
BTW – you’d be shocked to hear that were a PILE of unclaimed tix from USSF hospitality – kind of a shame that so many tickets would go to waste.
Anyhow, WE GOT OUR TIX! I couldn’t believe it!!! As we raced out of the ticketing center, all of the employees were clapping. People there had felt really sorry for me, I was there for about three hours BEGGING every Tom, Dick and Harry to help me… and while people were sympathetic, no one could help. That is, until the head honcho came along.
Anyhow, we SPRINTED up to the stadium, which is at the top of a MASSIVE hill. I’ve never run so fast in my whole life. Missed the first 10 mins of the game but who cares. The atmosphere was electric, never been at another event like it!!! I was even interviewed on German TV after the match. One of the best days of my life (after starting out as one of the worst!)
1) WC 1990, Florence, Italy: US 1, Austria 2. A college friend and I were camping at a youth hostel in Florence, and it seemed like we were the only Americans in town for the WC. We were called “ugly Americans” for walking around in US flag gear, even though half the town was in Austria, Czech, or (mostly) Italian flags. The US had learned from their 5-1 drubbing to the Czechs. During that game, the Italians in the crowd spent the latter half chanting “Pontello, Pontello, va fan culo” because the owner had sold Baggio!
2) USA-Brazil 2007. A nearly full house at Soldier Field. Goals. Drama. Brazilians and Brazilian-wanna-bes. But nothing on the line.
3) USA – Colombia 1994. This doesn’t really count because I was thousands of miles away from the stadium – in Africa, in fact, and watching late at night with no other US fans around. But that distance made the victory sooo sweet after the three losses that I saw in person during the 1990 Cup… Being so far away, I could care as intensely as I did because there were no American throwball fans around to kill my buzz.
I’ve only been to Silverbacks games, no one will accuse them of being confused with anything South American or European, for sure, and the US-Argentina game this summer.
Me and my friend who really helped get me majorly into soccer over the past couple of years took the Amtrak from Atlanta to NY (17 hours), stayed in a waaaay to small hotel room, got to spend all of 26 hours in the between the train rides in the city and at the game (and those last 2 only because our train got delayed), spent most (all) of my summer budget on this trip, the game was a 0-0 draw, and it was worth every penny. I actually got to tell the story to someone tonight about the crowd, learning the songs on the fly two sections away from Sam’s Army, the weather, all of it, and it was AWESOME.
Great idea for a topic, Ives.
USA v. Mexico, Feb. 2007 U of P Stadium, Phoenix, AZ. We live about 50 miles east of the stadium and it took us 3.5 hrs to get there. The freeways were packed with people, mostly Mexico fans driving to the game. We were stuck in traffic in downtown Phoenixand there were people waving flags and chanting in the freeway! We got to our seats as the anthems were being played and I’ve got to say it was the most exciting game of my life. If I were to guess, there were about 10k of us (USA fans) and the rest were Mexico fans. Nothing can ever match watching Landon burn past Rafa Marquez to score the last goal. The crowd was awesome, the stadium was packed, I had one of my boys with me, USA won, it was perfect. Here are two pics.
http://www.fli ckr.com/photos/32405125@N00/991911880/sizes/l/in/set-72157600041013935/
http://www.fli ckr.com/photos/32405125@N00/492111358/sizes/l/in/set-72157600041013935/
Check out the large versions. Links are broken just in case.
BRAZIL VS. MEXICO AT GILLETTE STADIUM. 65,000 screaming brazilians or mexicans packed into gillette that night. kaka & the rest downed mexico 3-1. what a game.
1996 Inter/Ac Milan Derby at San Siro: While studying abroad in Rome I visited a friend in Milan who introduced me to international soccer at San Siro. My reaction: hollly crap. A cross between gladiator games and a vietnam movie, nothing in american sport prepared me for such craziness. blood red and light blue throngs of fans intersecting in the parking lot and beating the crap out of each other, the heavy smell of pot smoke wafting outside the stadium, bullet proof glass between fan sections, the ac milan supporter’s section resembling the set of les miserables — lit up with flairs and fans practically hanging of the ledges, the deafening volume of the crowd chants, the grotesque enormous stadium that looked like the death star..i was afraid but, but as someone who grew up on the mean streets of Dinkins era NYC, hooked…
The game, in retrospect, wasn’t even that good–Baggio looked like he’d been partying too much and missed a couple gimmes, but it left me buzzing for weeks.
FC Barcelona vs NYRB in August!!!
First game ever and it was a match between two of my favorite teams!!! (^_^)