Stomp the Stands

The HDC is rocking tonight - even if Chivas USA have been eliminated from the playoffs. I'm here on behalf of Futbol Mundial, at the event sponsored by Chrysler to honor Chivas USA outreach to the community. Mostly they've run a bunch of soccer camps, involving over 300 kids who might otherwise not be in in a soccer camp at all. 

It's great to be back in the stadium. I haven't had an assignment here for a while and I've also been busy teaching. 

One thing I hope any HDC fans remember from tonight is how great the sound is when the upper decks of the stadium are stomped. It shakes the whole place with a thunderous, steady sound when the fans stomp their feet. I hope it happens in the playoffs and for MLS Cup especially. 

Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!

Next time, try HDC

Mexico lost to Chile 1-0 at the LA Coliseum on Wednesday night. The crowd count was 32,924.

Now, the Coliseum is great for big games. A full-strength Mexico squad against a name opponent could draw upwards of 50,000 or more, even on a Wednesday night. But when Mexico brings a team that isn't loaded with stars, or as was the case this week a team that has basically one star and a handful of recognizable players, the Coliseum makes no sense.

That's when it is time to play at Home Depot Center.

I suppose the only drawback would be the college. If Cal State Dominguez Hills caps the attendance at whatever, then all bets are off. Otherwise, it makes much more sense to play a friendly like this at HDC than it does at the Coliseum. There's not a whole lot of difference between 32,924 and 27,000. It's not like 27,000 versus 57,000.

Sure, you lose a little in terms of attendance but you gain a lot. First of all, it's a soccer specific stadium... unless it's being used for X Games or concerts or high school football or tv shows or whatever. Still, the field is in decent shape right now, probably better than at the Coliseum where poor field conditions are typically a concern and complaint.

The traffic around the Coliseum is generally bad and when you play a game in there it gets horrendous. Traffic around HDC, even before and after big games, is manageable.

And of course had the game been played there yesterday it would have sold out. I think you could probably say that Mexico would sell out any game it played at HDC. A packed 27,000 would make a far better atmosphere than a big stadium with lots of empty seats. The Coliseum seats more than 90,000 so there were more than 50,000 empty seats on Wednesday. That's a lot of wasted space.

I guess in the end I like HDC quite a bit and think it should be used for soccer events whenever it makes sense. Gold Cup games at HDC make sense. Midweek friendlies make sense to some degree (Mexico-Argentina would be better off at the Coliseum, for instance). But playing second- or third-rate friendlies in a big stadium, well, that doesnt make a whole lot of sense.

X-factor

Every year at around this time, MLS moves out of the Home Depot Center and the Galaxy and Chivas USA play a bunch of road games because of the X-Games.

It makes AEG a good chunk of change and a new field is relayed before the soccer starts up again. Here's a few shots of what's going on in the grounds instead of the beautiful game.

A night at Titan

Sunday's SuperLiga match was a bit of a change of pace. Instead of the usual Home Depot Center, we gathered at Titan Stadium to take in the action. Back in the day, going to Titan Stadium was a bit of a welcomed change of scenery from the Rose Bowl. Instead of the cavernous American football stadium, we got a to spend time in a cozy little stadium where we were all close to the action. But HDC has changed all that because HDC is such a great place to take in a soccer match.

There were some positives, though, but there were also some drawbacks. For starters, my view from the press box was terrible.



Here's how the plusses and minuses added up.

Plus: For me the stadium was a helluva lot closer than HDC. I left my house at about 3:50 and pulled off the 57 freeway at about 4:20. I shaved about a half hour off my drive. Parking was easy too. For fans, it was five bucks as opposed to the 15 at HDC. For media, all we had to do was show our credentials to park. That would never fly at HDC. It makes too much sense, i suppose. If you don't have a credential at HDC, you've gotta park on Victoria or cough up the cash. I've parked on Victoria plenty of times; sometimes I've parked way up near Central and hiked to the stadium.

Minus: If you don't know your way around the stadium, it's easy to get lost. Cal State Fullerton is a decent sized campus and there are many entrances. There were signs that directed you to the parking but you could easily miss them. HDC is pretty much a straight shot off Avalon or (the way I go) exit Central off the 91 and make a right onto Victoria.

Plus: No one checked my bag when I got into the stadium. I walked right in and the press box entrance was mere steps from the media gate.

Minus: Ah, the press box. Gotta love the view. I almost strained my neck trying to keep looking around that metal thing in front of me. When the ball was on the one side of the field, it wasn't a problem but when it was on the other side of the field, I had to crane my neck around it. Also, the windows don't open up so we could barely hear anything - whistles, crowd noise, players yelling or whatever. Also, there were no TVs so we couldn't exactly watch replays.

Plus: Food was free. It was okay, the chimichangas or whatever they were tasted great. Usually food costs 5 bucks at Galaxy games and 1 buck at Chivas games. It's hit and miss. I don't usually eat at the stadium but I indulged a bit yesterday. Also, they had beer! Except...

Minus: ...they took it away! Oh no! I didn't get a chance to crack open a brew. Not that I would have, actually, but anyone could have during the first half. Someone in charge told me they had no idea where that beer came from and had it taken away. I suppose it was a good thing - otherwise, none of us would have made deadline!

Plus: It was an easy walk down to the mixed zone. And it wasn't really a mixed zone, it was sort of a free-for-all. No locker room access but the players had to walk past the area where we were all at to get up to their respective busses.

Minus: The field was utter crap. I got a good look at it from below. It affected the match and players couldn't stop complaining about it. I don't blame them.

Greetings from HDC

The U.S. and Barbados are both preparing for today's World Cup qualifier here under sunny skies at Home Depot Center.

One note: Brad Guzan is starting at goalkeeper today because Tim Howard tweaked his back during training on Friday. Matt Reis is on the bench.

Here are the starting lineups:

UNITED STATES: Brad Guzan; Heath Pearce, Oguchi Onyewu, Carlos Bocanegra, Steve Cherundolo; DaMarcus Beasley, Michael Bradley, Pablo Mastroeni, Landon Donovan; Brian Ching, Clint Dempsey.

BARBADOS: Alvin Rouse; Dyson James, Daryl Ferguson, Greg Belle, Bryan Neblett; Jonathan Foote, Norman Forde, Jonathan Nurse, Rommelle Burgess; Paul Ifill, Mark McCammon.

More empty seats

Andrea stole my thunder a little with her previous post but I wanted to add to her thoughts on attendance.

Obviously, when it comes to soccer in Southern California, Mexico is king. The thousands upon thousands that come to attend both national team and club matches is well documented.

But when it comes to American soccer, there is only one team that draws well in Southern California. It's not Chivas USA. And it's certainly NOT the United States national team.

In terms of American soccer, this is a Galaxy town.

I'm actually a bit surprised that the U.S. scheduled a qualifier out here at Home Depot Center. It's the second consecutive year the U.S. has surprised me, as the U.S. played a pair of Gold Cup games out here last summer. Historically, the U.S. hasn't drawn well in Southern California. Even though soccer is popular among people of all backgrounds in SoCal, a scant few of them are willing to carry that interest in soccer over to the U.S. national team.

Sunday's turnout will probably be somewhere around 15,000, give or take. It's not inflated MLS attendance figures so we'll actually be close to the actual turnout, as we saw last year when Guatemala played the U.S. on a Thursday. Had that been an MLS game, that game probably would have been announced closer to 25,000 but it was actually a bit over 20,000.

How bad has the U.S. done in attendance out here at HDC? Take a look at the numbers: in the United States' six games at HDC, they've drawn an average of 16,596. That's not bad, actually, when you compare it to some MLS teams.

But consider this: Chivas USA had the second-highest attendance average in MLS in 2005 and fourth-highest in 2006. Why? Skewed numbers due to doubleheaders with Chivas Guadalajara. How'd they rank last season when there were no such dates? 13th out of 13.

The U.S. had two dates that were skewed - the aforementioned match against Guatemala and their game against Trinidad & Tobago. Anyone who was in attendance for the second half of US-Trinidad saw how many of the fans that day were there to see the U.S.

Here are the numbers, in reverse chronological order:

01/19/08 Sweden 14,8780
6/09/07 Trinidad 27,0000
6/07/07 Guatemala 20,821
01/20/07 Denmark 10,048
01/29/06 Norway 16,366
01/18/04 Denmark 10,461

I didn't figure out the averages without the Gold Cup games but it's probably around 13,000 or so.

The U.S. pulls in better numbers in other venues, as readers in the comments of the previous post have pointed out. Perhaps for the truly important games it's best for the U.S. to play in such venues.

But I still think it's important for the U.S. to play out here at HDC, even if only 13,000 or so die-hards turn out.

Perhaps U.S. and Chivas USA officials can get together to compare notes. Or better yet, perhaps they can ask the Galaxy their secret.

HDC qualifier

In the run-up to the U.S.-Mexico match, I missed this note and hadn't had a chance to put it up until now.

The U.S. will host a World Cup qualifier on June 15 at Home Depot Center. The match will be against either Barbados or Dominica, neither of whom apparently have an overwhelming population of ex-pats in Southern California. Otherwise, the match may have been elsewhere.

This could be the only World Cup qualifier the United States plays, if results don't go the United States' way. Of course, the odds of that happening would be around 150000 to 1.

Last thought on InterLiga

Before I forget, here's a link to the story I wrote about Saturday's America-Cruz Azul game. I wrote it for today's Press-Enterprise.

I pondered here the other night how great of a game that was and how it would rank among the games I've covered. I think it will go down as the best game I've covered at Home Depot Center. It tops the Galaxy-Pachuca game, which before Saturday was number one on that list.

I think number 118 on that list was the Galaxy-DC United game on June 2 of last year, the boring 0-0 draw between the two teams. Number 119 was Chivas USA-Osasuna in March of 2005, another boring game.

Empty HDC

Personally, the local reporters are all bummed. Greg Daurio was chatting excitedly just before the final game of the season that if the Galaxy won, there would be a bunch of games here in Carson for all of us to cover. Most of us don't get traveling expenses to go anywhere that's not local. Even when the Galaxy failed to win, Chivas USA still held home field advantage, so we thought there would be a Western Conference final here.

No such luck. The HDC sits empty. Well, there is that little charity game tomorrow. It's not the same as the playoffs though, not by a long shot.

Post X-Games

The X-Games left their mark in more ways than one. This is a shot of the HDC field, and what the Galaxy and D.C. United will play on come Wednesday night.

Sorry, we're closed

The Galaxy's likely new training grounds, behind a fence that had no barrier about a week ago.


Security was out in full force on Friday, presumably to keep the media from mobbing Edson Buddle and Kelly Gray.

False advertising?

Home Depot Center is lined with pictures of athletes or entertainers who have performed here before or who make HDC their regular place of business.

So this enormous picture of Amado Guevara in a Chivas USA uniform thus can be misleading. For a little while it did happen here, but it doesn't happen now and it won't ever happen again.

Home crowd

I haven't done the tally yet but I think I've covered somewhere around 60 games at Home Depot Center, give or take. Guatemala-El Salvador is the latest game I can add to my list of matches covered.

Usually, crowds here don't look this good.

HDC is a palace

The entire Home Depot Center facility, from the main field to the training grounds, the locker rooms to the gym, is great. But what makes it stand out from the rest of the country is who uses the facility.

I showed up at about 10:30 today for USMNT training. I interviewed several US players, including DaMarcus Beasley and Carlos Bocanegra. Then, I walked to another training field with Andrea as well as Bob Holtzman of the LA Newspaper group or whatever they're called to another training ground. We talked to Preki and then walked over to Galaxy training where we caught up with Frank Yallop and Landon Donovan.

We pulled off the treble! Three teams in one day, hell, in 90 minutes.

Where else can you do that here in this country?

Of course, the US will leave us behind soon enough so we have to take full advantage while we can.

Nothing going on

After an intense match and an electric atmosphere last Saturday, Home Depot Center sits quietly tonight.

On one hand, it's actually good that there is no game tonight. I get to watch the Oscar De la Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight.

But then, it'll feel a little strange with games being played today and tomorrow around the league not having anything to cover in person.

My sadness won't last long, though. On Tuesday, we've got the Galaxy-Red Bulls Open Cup qualifier. Then, the Galaxy hosts New England next week.

I guess I should enjoy a quiet weekend. There will be a game to cover every weekend starting next weekend until the first weekend in August, when the X Games take over.

Underground

This is something new this year at Galaxy games. Yesterday was the second Galaxy home game and The Underground was up and running. I don't know what The Underground is. A few of us writers were trying to figure it out. One speculated that it's a place for people who sit on the field can go and hang out. My guess is they want some cool chic place for people to chill at and make it some trendy hot spot. To the right of this is the tunnel that leads to the field, so players walk right by here on their way to the locker rooms (which are also to the right, our left).

I'll have to take a picture of it after the next home game, on May 12. I took this picture on Thursday when there wasn't anybody down in The Underground. Yesterday, the door was open and there were some people inside but I couldn't really see too far in there. Plus, I wasn't exactly paying attention to it.

If anybody has been to The Underground or wants to share info with us, that would be cool.

Path to glory

A view of the tunnel that leads out to the HDC field. It was so quiet on Thursday and it will be anything but on Saturday.

H stands for Hollywood

HDC isn't too close to Hollywood but sometimes some of the lights and cameras make their way down the way to our neck of the woods.

Along with some fellow reporters, we were walking slowly on the track at the Track and Field Stadium while Chivas USA's training was going on. We stopped to chat on the track when someone walked up to us and asked us if we would kindly step off it. Apparently we were in their background during the shot.

I don't know what they were shooting. Probably some sort of commercial.

By the way, I'm taking the guy on the left in a race.

More surroundings

Again, I tried to give you a bit of a look at the sprawling complex that is Home Depot Center. It's not just a soccer stadium. There are, as you can see, a bunch of tennis courts as well as those volleyball nets. On the other side of those courts is a parking lot and beyond that is the main entrance, which is flanked by six soccer fields. There's also another soccer field by its own down the way from the tennis courts.

The view of HDC is from the back. If you go there, you won't enter from this way. You can also see some seats if you look closely. Those are the seats to the main stadium's tennis court.

Track and Field Stadium

I tried to get a little fancy here and post pictures to get the entire field in frame but it didn't quite work out too well. Oh well.

The track and field stadium is not my favorite. I'm just not a fan of track fields. The action is too far away. Also, having the Home Depot Center so nearby makes it worse. Of course, they weren't about to play that game on the main field.

I've covered two games here, I mean two meaningful games. The Galaxy-Chivas USA Open Cup match in 2005 and the Galaxy-Dallas Roma FC Open Cup match in 2006. The first game was a logistical nightmare. They had one phone line (2005, the dark days of wifi) and I had to file something immediately after the game. So I did and by the time I went down to the field, most of the players were gone. I grabbed Arturo Torres and Francisco Mendoza and I think Steve Sampson. Everyone else worth talking to was pretty much gone.

The 2006 game was much easier, though that night I covered the game for the Dallas Morning News. They only wanted a match report and no quotes because they had a tight deadline. So I filed something for them right after the game and then took my time to talk with the Galaxy players. I don't remember everyone bolting right afterward so I don't know why they had in 05.