By FRANCO PANIZO
The friendly between the U.S. Men’s National Team and Ukraine will go on. It just won’t be played in Ukraine.
The Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU) announced on Tuesday that the March 5 friendly has been moved from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv to the tiny island nation of Cyprus.
The FFU said on its website that the decision was made after U.S. Soccer Federation requested the match be moved for safety reasons given the political unrest and violence that is currently going on in Ukraine.
U.S. Soccer confirmed the change on Tuesday afternoon.
The host venue in Cyprus will be confirmed at a later date, according to FFU. Located south of Turkey, on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, Cyprus is a small island, but does have a variety of hosting options for the match.
What do you make of this development? Think it was always bound to happen?
Share your thoughts below.
Move the game was the best decision, Cyprus is a beautiful place.
I was hoping that we’d cancel then schedule a game with Venezuela in San Cristobal.
I bought a plane ticket to Ukraine and game tickets, and now don’t know how I am to be refunded…But at least US Soccer has yet to make a comment and leave a few thousand of us traveling in the dark
You’ll like Cyprus. Bring flip flops.
I assume you’re already based in Europe or the Gulf states? Otherwise, damn son.
Perhaps you should discuss with your airline? And no, don’t tell them it’s because a game was moved.
Delta, for example: http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/traveling-with-us/alerts-and-advisories/ukraine-civil-unrest.html
Except maybe he paid them in bitcoins double ouch.
Based in California, but I’m able to cancel and switch flights. Cost me extra though which sucks. I wish USSF is more sympathetic though, since they haven’t done anything to help out us traveling fans. They should want us to show up to these games, not make it more challenging for us.
Cyprus is goegeous though, I’ll have to stay for a little longer lol
Good call. Let the Ukrainians focus on more important things
Will Julian Green be able to make It ??
neverminfd he was only going to camp not the game
Interesting, moving the match from a country threatening to divide to a country divided.
Annnnnnnd sanity prevails…
Will the venue hurt our FIFA ranking? Mostly a joke here, but a serious question as well for informational purposes… not because it would actually affect it much.
As a citizen of the world though, I hope things start to settle down in the Ukraine. It looks a bit bleak right now. Quite a power vacuum.
I don’t think the fifa algorithm takes into account whether a match is home or away.
It does not, which is one of the flaws with their silly formula.
That brings up another good question, is the World Cup considered as home games for Brazil and away games for everyone else?
Nope. It’s counted as a neutral venue for everyone except Brazil and anyone playing against Brazil.
Cooler heads prevailed.
Electrical utility workers are protesting in Cyprus and causing power outages. Let’s hope they have lights.
The Lucky 23 to get on this Roster! Cyprus is one of the best vacation spots in Europe
Meh, we coulda used some shaky nerves and adversity. They woulda been fine.
Maybe, if you are suggesting that the situation might have simulated the pressure of a World Cup game. And it’s always nice to beat a European team on their soil, even in a friendly.
But, I like the move. Two national teams playing on neutral soil also simulates a World Cup setting. It removes the home field advantage, the partisan fans, and brings it down to the players, the coaching and the tactics.
The World Cup in Brasil in likely to have it’s share of protests. I think the only question is how big.
How is that not our official crest yet. So perfectly gaudy.
This is definately an upgarde from the U.S. with the soccer ball flying through it. However, I would prefer something that incorporates a bald eagle. I cannot understand why our crest does not have our nations offical emblem?
a bald eagle? are you serious?
Yes, very serious. Are you American? Do you have any idea why the bald eagle is the official emblem of the United States? It is the only eagle unique to North America. It was selected as the national emblem because of its “long life, great strength and majestic looks, and also because it was then believed to exist only on this continent.”
Benjamin Franklin also hated the idea of the bald eagle, which doesn’t kill its own pray, but prefers to steal from others. He thought it was an embarrassment.
He wanted the official bird to be the turkey.
That’s an often stated myth. Totally false.
Disagree with Franklin’s assessment. We live in Minnesota so we see bald eagles regularly. I’ve watched them fish. It is majestic.
+1 Watching a bald eagle fishing while attempting to fish myself is right up there with seeing the Grand Canyon as amazing things in nature I’ve witnessed.
well, France’s crest has a chicken or a rooster…
And Mexico has an Eagle.
So that pretty much answers that.
France once invaded Mexico. I bet they wanted to steal their Eagle so they could have a cooler bird.
And something written in English, that is our official language.
Please choose one of the following so that I know how to take this:
a. You’re joking.
b. You’re 12 years old.
c. You’re a caricature of the ugly American.
d. All of the above; in which case, kudos.
oh boy
Yeah, none of that “E pluribus unum” crap.
Technically, the US does not have an official language (or languages). De facto, it’s English. However, Congress has never mandated an offical language.
And to top it all off, you’re wrong. The United States doesn’t have an official language:
http://answers.usa.gov/system/templates/selfservice/USAGov/#!portal/1012/article/3206/Official-Language-of-the-US
“I’ll just light this fuse and walk away…”
– testy
Pretty sure we couldn’t copyright that plain badge so the federation would take a massive hit financially. Maybe we could jazz it up a bit.
Agree. It is a thing of beauty.
It will still be televised, right?
Makes sense. For selfish purposes, glad this one is going forward unlike the lost Egypt game.
Boss. Cyprus is beautiful.
Hopefully Ukraine can get a handle on things without anymore bloodshed. As a huge soccer fan I am glad the game is on AND moved. There are bigger things happening in Ukraine right now!
I agree. While I don’t think the players would have been targeted specially, the event would have acted as a great platform for the two sides to globally make their voices heard.
Unfortunately, one of the most important reasons we wanted to play Ukraine away was the atmosphere. In Cyprus, we wont get that intensity the players need to prepare for the World Cup.
But better safe than sorry. I’m just glad they are still playing.
The away atmosphere would lessen quite a bit, but weather wise it would be closer to Brazil than playing in cold weather in Ukraine. I am happy the game is ON!
Ukraine is not the type of atmosphere we need. I disagree that Cyprus won’t give an ample away atmosphere. Few, if any, of them have been there and there certainly won’t be many USA supporters there….Cool place, Cyprus, though.