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Schedule and venues announced for “Road to Brazil” friendly matches

FernandoTorresDavidSilvaSpain1-Tahiti (Getty)

By DAN KARELL

Some of the world’s biggest stars will be playing in a stadium near you this summer.

Soccer United Marketing, the commercial arm for Major League Soccer, announced on Friday the schedule and venues for the upcoming slate of “Road to Brazil” friendlies in May and June.

World Cup 2014 teams such as Spain, Honduras, the Ivory Coast, and Greece will be playing across the country in stadiums such as RFK Stadium, BBVA Compass Stadium, Toyota Stadium, PPL Park, and Red Bull Arena.

After the opening match between Turkey and Honduras on May 29 at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C., the friendlies will conclude nine days later on June 7 in Landover, Md. as Spain plays El Salvador at FedEx Field. The Spain game is part of a double header that includes an MLS regular season match between D.C. United and the Columbus Crew.

Here’s a closer look at the schedule and teams in the “Road to Brazil” friendlies:

May 29 – Turkey vs. Honduras – RFK Stadium, Washington D.C.

May 30 – Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Ivory Coast – TBA

June 1 – Honduras vs. Israel – BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston

June 3 – Greece vs. Nigeria – PPL Park, Chester, Pa.

June 4 – Ivory Coast vs. El Salvador – Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas

June 6 – Greece vs. Bolivia – Red Bull Arena, Harrison, N.J.

June 7 – Spain vs. El Salvador – FedEx Field, Landover, Md.

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What do you think of this news? Glad to see some World Cup teams playing in MLS stadiums? Do you plan on attending any of these matches?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. This is fantastic for football (soccer) in the USA. What a great thing, I hope all friendlies are close to sell-outs.

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    • with Spain and the US both playing on Sun-6/7 on the East Coast I imagine that a USA-Spain Red Bull Arena matchup on Wed-6/4 is possible..

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  2. I think Bosnia vs Ivory Coast just got announced at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. Huge Bosnian contingent here, so it makes sense.

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  3. So will MLS count attendance for that game as their own? Really hate to see that because the league has been doing a good job lately at not having to do that (bumping attendance figures) very often. It used to be the norm back in the late ’90’s and early to mid 2000’s. But hey it will be a great atmosphere regardless and that’s what really counts.

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    • Yeah it’s awful when teams have far more supporters, including people who may have never seen them play, at these kind of events. Did it ever occur to you that some of them may just end up buying tickets to see their local MLS teams play, especially since they are cheaper than tickets to USMNT matches.

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    • Teams are wanting to get on the time zone with the World Cup, most games will be at UTC-3. East coast is UTC-5 (two hours behind) and Central is UTC-6 (three hours behind) while the West coast is UTC-8 (five hours behind). If you are going to move to a venue that is 5 hours behind you might as well stay in Europe where most is UTC+1 and be 5 hours ahead.

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  4. Would think the US would announce their final friendly schedule soon, as it’s less than 3 months away now. Would be cool to see Zlatan here at Stanford, but wonder if he’d even want to play a meaningless friendly with a long haul travel… especially if PSG make a major CL run.

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  5. Wow, what interest there is to hold high level national team matches here in the US. Maybe the US should bid for the 2022 World Cup, they’d be a great host as they have all the needed stadiums and would get a huge crowd.

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    • We have an unfriendly environment for WC bidding, because we actually have laws that prohibit bribery or improper payments to foreign officials. So until FIFA changes, we wont get another WC when bidding against countries without such….scruples.

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    • I disagree. RFK is also awful. There is no other stadium in the country where you can be nominally sitting in the front row and be 60 yards from the field. There is no place worse to watch a soccer game than at a baseball stadium.

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      • I agree Dillon. I was all excited to finally have front row seats to the US-Germany game and because of the track behind the benches and the bubble over the benches, I couldn’t see half the field. Definitely an annoying experience for what turned out to be a great game.

      • I would have to say yes but… in reply. Most of the seats are bad at RFK. However you have to set aside conventional wisdom when trying to find a seat at RFK. I found the first few rows of the upper deck (on the first base side) can see the whole field and you can see how plays develop. OTOH, did you ever wonder why in some countries, especially Italy, they never sell the seats in the first 5 rows or so.

      • Second section up along the touchlines is good for the length of the field. Lower and you’re there for the atmosphere (noise and bouncing aluminum flooring). Higher and you can see everything but from upper-deck distance.

  6. Aren’t there other friendlies, beyond the ones being marketed by SUM? Isn’t England playing here, too?

    Once all the info becomes available, it would be interesting to see a list of all the pre-World Cup friendlies, including Team USA’s.

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    • Well said. Almost a useful article. Some of Ives’s helpers try to squeeze an article out of the tiniest nugget when a useful journalistic work is right in front of them.

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      • Additional example: during WCQ. There a ton of game review and preview artivles,. But how many times did y’all see an actual table? Lamery.

    • +1 here is my attempt. keep in mind some games, venues, dates and opponents are unconfirmed.

      Thr 5-29-14:

      Turkey vs. Honduras – RFK, DC

      USA vs. TBA – Stanford Stadium, Palo Alto, CA

      Fri 5-30-14:

      Bosnia vs. Ivory Coast – TBA (STL or KC?)

      Sat 5-31-14:

      Mexico vs. Ecuador – AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX

      Sun 6-1-14:

      Honduras vs. Israel – BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, TX

      Tues 6-3-14:

      Greece vs. Nigeria – PPL Park, Chester, PA

      Mexico vs. B&H – Soldier Field, Chicago, IL

      Wed 6-4-14:

      Ivory Coast vs. El Salvador – Toyota Stadium, Frisco, TX

      England vs. Ecuador – SunLife Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL

      USA vs. TBA – RB Arena, Harrison, NJ

      Friday 6-6-14:

      Greece vs. Bolivia – RB Arena, Harrison, NJ

      Mexico vs. Portugal – Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, MA

      Saturday 6-7-14:

      Spain vs. El Salvador – Fedex Field, MD

      England vs. Honduras – SunLife Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL

      USA vs. Nigeria – Everbank Field, Jacksonville, FL

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      • rumors of Rep. of Ireland scheduling some games in the NJ area too.

        maybe vs Italy (5/31) and vs. Portugal (6/10)

    • apparently the last game we play will be against Nigeria in Jacksonville. the first two are reportedly going to be against Sweden, Serbia, or Turkey with one of those games on the west coast.

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      • I was hoping the US would play teams of the caliber of Holland or Spain and get guys like Besler and Gonzalez used to the highest level of competition before they have to defend against the likes of Ronaldo and Muller.

      • A single game against a top tier foe isn’t going to prepare them. All it will do is crush their spirit if they get destroyed. It’s better to play competitive teams.

      • When Sweden is on its A game (with Ibra) it is as tough as you can care for. Serbia (like a lot of the ex Yugoslavian teams) can bring surprising talent, and Turkey has damn good local league.

    • USA vs TBA – Stanford Stadium, Palo Alto, CA

      USA vs TBA – Red Bull Arena, Harrison, NJ

      USA vs Nigeria – Everbank Field Jacksonville, FL

      many other games with other national teams..the “Road to Brazil” isnt half of it.

      Reply

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