The Complete US Soccer Fan Experience

It came into conscious clarity around the 84th minute — this was the quintessential USMNT fan experience. In my first in-person US Men’s Soccer game, the Americans conceded an early goal off a corner kick, gave up a penalty to close out the first half, and were the same frustrating, uncreative, non-adjusting team they have been lately in a 2-0 loss to one of the best teams in the world.

This guy was in the stadium and amped more than 2 hours before the game. By Owen Main

Oh, Hi Columbia

All the Columbians came to Santa Clara. The fans were pro-Columbia, and it wasn’t even close. For every one fan of the United States, there were four or five yellow or white Columbia jerseys. Of the sold-out crowd of 67,439, I’d guess about 45,000 were Columbia fans. Seriously, it’s like everyone in Bogotá traveled to Santa Clara for Friday night’s game.

You think it doesn’t make a difference when Michael Bradley and co. step onto a pitch in California and are greeted with a sea of gold?

The AO Experience

As a member of the SLO American Outlaws chapter, I was really pumped to see what sitting in the AO section would bring to the table. Honestly, it was really cool. The chants, cheers, and collective will the section exuded was pretty awesome. It would have been better if the rest of the stadium wasn’t in yellow and if it didn’t feel like a road game, but it was really fun nonetheless.

Cheering-wise, my favorite part early on in the game. Just seconds after the first Columbia goal — a crushing one inside of 10 minutes, the AO drummers started-up a progressive clap to help keep both the fans and, hopefully, the team right in the game.

The good and the bad

Let’s start with the good, and this section will be short. Geoff Cameron and John Brooks looked all right in the center of defense. Michael Bradley generally hustled behind the ball. Alejandro Bedoya left it all on the pitch, and Clint Dempsey’s free kick was a good one, despite the save by the Columbian goalkeeper.

Now to the bad.

First, DeAndre Yedlin. Yedlin should be one of the few US players who can put pressure on other teams with his speed and skill on the wing. Yedlin’s play, though, seemed less inspired and sharp than I’ve ever seen. Passes he sent seemed to go awry. Passes to him sailed out of bounds when he stopped runs, or flew out of bounds behind him. He looked really out of sorts and like he couldn’t find his place on the right wing that Gyasi Zardes and sometimes Bedoya also roamed. Yedlin’s handball gave Columbia their second goal.

Fabian Johnson did all right on the left side, though on a particularly weak cross right in front of me I wondered how strong his left foot really is. I know Johnson likes being a left-side player, but he’s got to do more than run straight north and south to create moving forward.

The most annoying aspect of the game was the US’s inability to be creative and matriculate the ball forward from the back line. Throughout both halves, Columbia would sit back without pressuring Brooks or Cameron. The tactic totally stopped any flow the US had, as they closely covered Bradley, Bedoya, and Jermaine Jones, who the Americans were trying to play through. None made particularly creative runs and so, despite having three attacking players looking to get forward, the United States spent very little time in the attacking third.

For years, Americans have had a really hard time with the final pass or two to break-down world-class defenses and get goals. Nothing I saw tactically or from the players on Friday night made me think that would change anytime soon.

There are lots of other criticisms of tactics and players you could make. If you were in the AO section, you probably felt like the US didn’t really get the calls they should have. From behind the goal, it looked like Dempsey was dragged down in the box early. It also seemed as though Columbia committed enough fouls to have deserved a yellow card somewhere along the way. It definitely wasn’t the ref’s fault that they didn’t win and maybe it’s just part of that pure fan experience to hate the ref in a game like this… .

On the line

Jurgen Klinsmann’s legacy has already in doubt for a lot of pundits, and this performance didn’t do anybody any good. I’ve always been a Klinsmann supporter, but this team’s play is just flat-out mediocre right now.

I’m no body language doctor like Bill Simmons, but if I was going to guess, I’d say Klinsmann would be out of his job prior to the next World Cup cycle. I hope he turns things around and Sunil Gulati has no choice but to keep him, but it’s hard to see a series of events that makes the team better enough to justify that.

So THIS is what it’s like

So, the overwhelming thought I had leaving the stadium is that I’d just been indoctrinated into a US Soccer fan. The game and tournament had such promise. Maybe it still does. But, maybe, I learned a little more about what it was like to be a US Soccer fan. The American soccer fans who were there were really great. It’s a fantastic, loyal, passionate community whose main currency right now might be frustration.

That said, I wondered how US fans were SO outnumbered in their own stadium. It was a little bit embarrassing that US Soccer hadn’t done more to generate better interest in the Bay Area. And isn’t California supposed to be full of soccer people? Man, the more I think about it, the more I think the Bay Area didn’t do very well in terms of numbers. Hopefully Chicago and Philadelphia do better. Again, props to Columbia fans for buying up all the seats.

On the way home, I stopped in King City for a snack. Waiting to use the restroom with my US Soccer gear on still, I found myself face-to-face with a Columbia fan. He had a gold James Rodriguez jersey on and we made eye contact.

“Sorry, bro,” he said.

Yep.

Up next

The US will have to get good results from their remaining group games against Costa Rica in Chicago and Paraguay in Philadelphia. If they play like they did on Friday, that’ll be their last game in this tournament they’re hosting.

Photos by Owen Main