Photo by John Dorton/ISIphotos.com
The U.S. men's national team's quest for the 2014 FIFA World Cup will begin in Tampa, Fla., as it hosts Antigua & Barbuda on June 8 in the opening game of its World Cup qualifying run at Raymond James Stadium.
U.S. Soccer also confirmed that the May 26 friendly against Scotland will be played at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, something that was reported by a Jacksonville radio station earlier on Wednesday. The match, which has an 8 p.m. first kick, will be the first national team game televised by the NBC Sports Network under its new rights deal, and it will also be broadcast by Univision.
The matchup against Antigua & Barbuda will be the first one ever for the U.S. men, and it will be televised on ESPN, ESPN3.com and Univision. First kick is slated for 7 p.m. The United States last played in Tampa this past June in the Gold Cup when it suffered a shock 2-1 loss to Panama.
"Our focus since last summer has been to prepare this team for World Cup qualifying, and we are thrilled that we can start the process in Tampa," U.S. manager Jurgen Klinsmann said in a federation-issued release. "It’s critical that we start qualifying off on the right foot, so to be in a place where the team has had such great support is a huge positive for us. The players always talk about how great the surface is at Raymond James Stadium, so overall we think it is the ideal venue.”
What do you think of the venues for the two matches?
Share your thoughts below.
I’m an Antiguan and it’s kind of messed up how people are trying my country…smh. Respect your opponents. U.S. don’t like when Brazil, France, etc. do it to you. By the way, there is a good population of Antiguans and Barbudans in Florida period. I believe about 5,000. There are more A&B nationals abroad than the 2 islands itself. Just to let you know.
If you put literally every resident of Antigua and Barbuda at Raymond James Stadium, you would only have an overflow of 20,000. Relax with the home “away” game worries.
Please the citrus bowl is a piece of sh!t. Went there for an LSU bowl game and everything about it blew
Wow I can’t believe I won’t get to see this game, and most of the mls games this season for that matter. This NBC is deal is really screwing me over
I hate not having National Team Stadiums. As I’ve said before. 10 stadiums. 5 smaller MLS stadiums and 5 bigger stadiums located in the NW/SW/MW/S/NE/SE.
Rotate matches between them end the debate end of story. Why play this guessing game? Knowing what stadiums the games were at would greatly increase attendance.
Damn I was really hoping that this game would be in the home depot center…its one of the few WCQ opponents where you don’t have to worry about it being a home “away” game and we could display the countries best soccer stadium.
SUM & US Soccer need to reward Orlando with the great job they are doing and schedule some of these friendlies and/or qualifiers at the Citrus Bowl. It will draw a bigger crowd than RAYJ. Although, physically speaking, RAYJ is a much nicer stadium. Just would like to see it played in Orlando, to give O City a boost in getting their own stadium deal done.
Fox should be included in a sports package.
Your 1st mistake is having Dish network, if you are a fan of Soccer…DirecTV is the way to go…
Vs was on a lot of cable channels..and more important is that this game would of never been on ESPN it would have been on Fox Soccer Channel which is in even less homes….
NBC Sports does such a good job with the NHL I have high hopes for their USMNT and MLS coverage. As long as they have a solid announcing crew, I think it won’t be far off from the presentation provided by ESPN.
Raymond James Stadium cant draw big crowds for any event…Antigua is probably a good option for that location then…
Not entirely true, I have NBCSports though Time Warner’s sports package that includes FSC and FSCPlus for about $8 a month.
Uhm, there’s lots that are. Think of any that held qualifying last time or were in the bid process for the WC, that would pretty much be every NFL stadium and a bunch of others.
agreed
Ugh, please don’t give Seattle a game unless they have a real grass field (and not the temporary laid grass that falls apart).
In this case that would actually be pretty fair.
A&B is not really a threat. The USMNT will travel to Guatemala for their next qualification game. Playing in Florida is a better preparation for the hot and humid weather in Guatemala rather than playing in cold weather further North, plus it’s a shorter flight to the next game.
And NBCSports is NOT a legit channel.
I’m going to complain about the TV network it’s on. NBCSPorts is pathetic. It’s on 25 million less televisions than ESPN2 and unless you live in a big city and have Comcast cable (Comcast and NBC merged) then you can only get it through a very expensive tier package on your Satellite service. Comcast has no desire to make this channel any cheaper as it hopes this will make you switch from Sat. to cable anyway. Heck, I’m on Dish and it’s cheaper to add Fox Soccer at $7 a month than to go from the mid package to the top tier ($15 a month). Ugh.
But FSC clearly isnt pushing their weight [or lack thereof] to get the providers to carry it in HD. It goes both ways.
They both suck…they have to agree on a deal which neither can seem to do.
would have liked to see it be played in either FIU or Lockhart stadium… more intimate and still in Florida for easy trip down to Guatemala.
We had over 30k in 2007 for friendly against Ecuador. I’ll be at this game. If the lower bowl is full its a really good atmosphere.
Tamba Bay Rowdies… booyah! Good times.
I believe Raymond James Stadium is sanctioned for international FIFA matches. Not many US stadia are.
Blame what on the Glazers for being VERY good businessmen?? Your focus is on the wrong group. Who gave the Glazers the sweetheart deal? The city, county, taxpayers, politicians? If someone is giving you a great opportunity and you turn it down, you are foolish. If you can negotiate a great deal good for you.
What about the game 4 days later in guatemala? F**k you
FSC doesn’t suck, your cable operator sucks. Have a clue on who to blame
OT, but the last bunch of posts by Avi. Should the name of this blog change? 🙂
what about the rest of the damn nation… F Florida
but hey if the players said its a good place to play then why not…
good point, like most I was surprised with Tampa but why not.. save Seattle and Chicago for the Hex.
The one thing is I wish more games; friendlies and official games were played in SSS. Talk about building a culture and bringing the money to soccer organizations not just paying a small event fee to an NFL team.
We have a qualifier in Guatemala 4 days later. A southeast location is probably best in terms of getting to the next game a little more quickly instead of flying from a Boston or Columbus (or any west coast area).
ya the only thing worse than the Antiguans are…ah.. those Barbudans… rowdy bunch eh?
Even though no team should be taken for granted, I’m sure U.S. Soccer is expecting this game to be fairly easy. So why not put it where they can draw a bigger (and maybe more hostile) crowd and try and generate some revenue. I watched a WC Qualifier last cycle in Chicago against Barbados (?) and the U.S. won 8-0 and there couldn’t have been more than 1,000-2,000 people there. Against competition like this I think it is fine to try and put it in areas where bigger crowds can be drawn even if a lot of the extra fans are rooting for the opposing team. If we can’t beat Antigua & Barbuda both home and away then, well….. That being said, I do agree that Home games in the Hex should be played in places that are tough for opponents. I think it is too bad that all the fields in the NW are turf b/c that is one of the few places in the country where the crowd would be overwhelmingly US (and this is from someone living in Chicago).
These venues are fine. We do not need altitude or cold for this matchup or most of CONCACAF. Hoping the NBC coverage is going to be good. As long as all of the matches are televised in English and HD I will be happy.
wait, does that mean we play 11 against 22? that hardly seems fair.
Blame it on the Glazers…
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/bucs/content/raymond-james-stadium-project-reminder-glazers-sweetheart-deal
“While the Bucs didn’t pay for construction costs, they do reap the overwhelming majority of the profits generated by the stadium. And that includes more than Bucs games. The organization profits from every event held in the stadium, whether it be a monster truck show or exhibition soccer.”
There’s a huge Antigua/Barbuda community in Tampa. At least 30.
May 26,…J-ville.
June 3…Toronto
June 8….Tampa
Hattrick of matches. Do-able…for me anyway.
Same thought here. Why in such a hot, humid place in June?
Why not play the island teams somewhere colder and higher up? Why do we make it easier for them by playing in low altitude?
Well played, sir.
Placing the Antigua game in Florida, are they trying to make the crowd more hostile?
brilliant!
But it’s Antigua AND Barbuda!
The game was only just announced in the last hour and it doesn’t happen until June. Just stay tuned in to ussoccer.com, or get on their email list and you’ll be among the first to know. Or just keep following SBI.
I was surprised to find that the last couple times the US has played at Raymond James in Tampa they’ve drawn 20-25K or so. It might be a stretch to expect that for a game against Antigua though.
Can’t wait! Love that these games are being televised on legit channels in HD w/ English commentators. Sorry FSC but until your HD option is avialable in Chicago, you suck.
eh, would rather see early World Cup qualifying matches in smaller, MLS soccer specific stadiums but not going to really complain.
where can i buy my tickets for the Tampa game?
Kind of a large venue for an opponent like Antigua, isn’t it?