The Blue Board

Got the name change eh??? And yes, would love to see a USA match.

United States controlled most of the game, but Paraguay's defense made things extremely difficult for the U.S.A. to score. We had our chances though, just wasn't our night. On a positive note, Timothy Chandler had a hell of a game on the right side..that kid is gonna be special in a couple years.

Also heard the attendance at the game tonight was the highest ever for the state of Tennessee, pretty cool stuff.

I agree Chandler will be good.with him and Juan and some other younger players I honestly think the USA will be very good at soccer soon

Relatively new to the soccer scene. Been following since the last 2 World Cups. Does the atmosphere at those matches compare to a good CFB rivalry?

I've been to three matches in last year's World Cup in South Africa:

- Cameroon v. Netherlands (Cameroon knocked out)
- Spain v. Portugal (Portugal knocked out)
- Germany v. Argentina (quarter final, Argentina knocked out)

As far as the atmosphere goes, it was ridiculous. We were in Cape Town, and did this mile-long walk to the stadium with all of the other fans. It was like a party the whole way down. Vuvuzelas were blaring, drums beating, drinks flowing and banners in the air. You make this turn around the bend and as the stadium comes into view the crowd has this audible increase in fervor. It was pretty insane.

I've attached some pictures to describe what I'm talking about. I'd definitely say it was comparable, if not more intense (especially for the quarter final), than a college football rivalry game.

Im sure the atmosphere was great but the best ones are at World Cup and World Cup qualifiers.

I'll try to dig some interior pics out in a bit. Full disclosure, the pics I posted above weren't mine, but I have a bunch just like that.

The trip all-in was about $7,000. We were there for 14 days, and that price includes airfare, hotel, boozing, food, souvenirs, activities (shark diving, safari, wine tasting) and game tickets ($600 for three games). We really went all out, but I bet you could have done it for $5,000. South Africa had a favorable exchange rate, which helped a lot on food and booze.

Haha yeah, come to think of it, they actually were in that order (on different days though). The shark diving sh*t was crazy. They put you in this cage in the same bay where they filmed all those Great White / seal breaching scenes for that episode of Planet Earth.

They chum the hell out of the water and drag a tuna head in front of the cage. Eventually, you raise a few Great Whites and they come strike the tuna head about three feet in front of you. It's awesome. See pic that I took below.

Also attached some images from inside the Cape Town stadium.

not a chance in hell jaws and I are getting face to face like that. that's awesome you had the stones to pull that off. Who is that in that second pic, Germany vs. Argentina? I wish we would start building stadiums like that in the US. Jerry World, and whatever the one is in Seatle are kind of crazy designs but nowhere near that stadium.

Haha, it wasn't that bad, from a nerves standpoint. Once you get on the boat and you see the silhouette of that first shark start to circle the boat and the fin break the water, your heart definitely jumps. After you lower into the cage it's all adrenaline, no fear.

Yeah, that's the Germany v. Argentina game. Our seats were much better for that game. The third pic is Netherlands v. Cameroon, I think.

Stadium is definitely really cool, design wise. I will say that the amenities in American stadiums are incomparable, though. I was in Jerry World and it felt like the Ritz in places.

I actually went to a Celtic v. Rangers match in 2005. It's much different from a CFB game. The police placed barbed-wire barricades around the stadium so that you could never actually see the visiting Rangers fans. Mounted police in riot gear are everywhere.

The stadium's capacity was 60,000 for normal league games. It drops to 58,000 on Rangers games because they put 1,000 empty seats on either side of the visitors section, lined with cops, to prevent fights.

Check out the movie Green Street Hooligans, good movie but also gives a surprisingly accurate depiction of how heated some of those rivalries really are.