Soccer Citi

[Guest Edgy DC]

No goals scored by Panteliodis as Greece and Ecuador played to a 1-1 tie at Citi last night, featuring five yellow cards.

Ronald McDonald tackled in the corner here.


Here's a shot from the sort of seats I would get.


Mets Police has a bunch of informative (if low-res) screen captures. They played with one goal by the third base dugout and the other under the Trademarked Cola Product Porch.

[MFS62]

I liked it when the idea for a multi-purpose arena to replace Shea was rejected in favor of a "baseball stadium".
I'm a baseball stadium purist. Building for those other sports takes spectators in many seats far away from the baseball action. (Remember the multi-purpose ovals of the 70's and 80's?)
Now, they played soccer at Citi?

Feh.
There goes the neighborhood.

Later

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Geezus, I didn't even realize that was played at Citi. I saw 3 minutes of highlights and assumed it was played in Ecuador given the proliferation of yellow.

Now, they played soccer at Citi?

Perhaps a road test for the proposed Citi-based MLS team. Suddenly those seats behind home-plate don't look so good.

[metirish]

First sell out at Citi in a while?

[Guest Edgy DC]

MFS62 wrote: (Remember the multi-purpose ovals of the 70's and 80's?)

I was pretty crazy about Shea.

[Willets Point]

Edgy DC wrote: MFS62 wrote: (Remember the multi-purpose ovals of the 70's and 80's?) I was pretty crazy about Shea.

Shea was a masterpiece of modernism from the 60s though.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

metirish wrote: First sell out at Citi in a while?

Close. 39K+, biggest crowd since Opening Day.

[Valadius]

Bring back the Cosmos.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Valadius wrote: Bring back the Cosmos.

Eric Cantona and several business partners are working on it.

[soupcan]

It was sort of a test-run for MLS/Wilpons-as-owners/Cosmos redux combo platter.

Check it:

June 7, 2011 Citi Field Welcomes Soccer By JORGE CASTILLO For the first time in weeks, fans occupied nearly every seat at Citi Field on Tuesday night. Only this time vuvuzelas, not �Take Me Out to the Ballgame,� resonated throughout the ballpark, and yellow, not blue, was the dominant color in the stands. Citi Field�s baseball diamond and outfield were converted into a soccer field for the first time in the stadium�s two-plus-year history for an international friendly between Ecuador and Greece. While thousands of fans � most of them clad in bright yellow in support of Ecuador � congregated at the Mets� park, the game had larger implications than as a simple national-team tuneup. The match was the first in Queens since Colombia and Slovakia played a scoreless tie at Shea Stadium in August 2003, and it shifted the soccer scene in the metropolitan area from northern New Jersey to New York City for at least one night. All signs point to that continuing in the future. Before Ecuador and Greece played to a 1-1 tie in front of 39,656, the Mets executive vice president Dave Howard said Citi Field would also host a friendly between �two very well-known professional club teams, one from Europe and one from Central America,� this summer. He expects an announcement to be made within the next week. �We�re excited about hosting events like this, but we certainly intend to make money,� Howard said. �That�s all part of the motivation of doing events like this.� The developments come at a time when Major League Soccer is moving to expand to New York City, with Flushing the likely destination for the league�s second team in the area. The Red Bulls, the area�s only M.L.S. team, play their home games at the 25,000-seat, $200 million Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J. �We remain focused on securing a 20th team for Major League Soccer in New York,� the M.L.S. spokesman Dan Courtemanche said via e-mail. �We do not have a set time frame on when we will add a 20th team. Our goal is to have a second team in N.Y. at the earliest opportunity. The N.Y. market is a priority, but it may take a couple of years before we have the team and stadium finalized.� Mets ownership, led by Fred Wilpon, has discussed the possibility of owning a club with the M.L.S. commissioner, Don Garber, over the last few years. Howard said the sides had talked again �recently.� But an M.L.S. club operated by Wilpon may be unlikely given his financial issues the last few months, and Garber has said that there were other ownership groups interested, including a group that has bought the rights to the Cosmos name and is aggressively seeking a team in M.L.S. One obstacle is the lack of a soccer stadium in Queens as teams across M.L.S. have moved away from all-purpose stadiums. �Our focus is on a soccer-specific stadium for a second New York team,� Courtemanche added. �That is the key issue. We do not have a location yet, but we do believe Queens would be a very successful location.� Howard said both matches at Citi Field would give a good indication of how receptive the marketplace would be to another team in the area. M.L.S. has added four teams in the past three years � Seattle in 2009, Philadelphia in 2010, and Vancouver and Portland this year � and will expand to Montreal in 2012. Garber has named South Florida, Atlanta, San Diego, Arizona, Las Vegas, Detroit and San Antonio as other possible destinations for future M.L.S. teams.

[Willets Point]

Valadius wrote: Bring back the Cosmos.

Only if they can bring back a young Giorgio Chinaglia.

[Ceetar]

The Second Spitter wrote: Geezus, I didn't even realize that was played at Citi. I saw 3 minutes of highlights and assumed it was played in Ecuador given the proliferation of yellow. Now, they played soccer at Citi? Perhaps a road test for the proposed Citi-based MLS team. Suddenly those seats behind home-plate don't look so good.

Actually the article above makes it sound like it's not Citi-based ,merely using Citi to profile the crowd interest and they want a soccer stadim specifically. Across the street in Willets Point? (not that I care)

[Guest Edgy DC]

Italian giants Juventus announce U.S. summer tour 8 Jun, 2011 Famed Italian club Juventus FC announced preliminary plans for a summer tour of the United States on Wednesday, with three exhibition matches planned between July 19 and August 1. "The Old Lady" will be based in Philadelphia, but have only confirmed one match, a friendly against Mexican powerhouse Club America on Tuesday, July 26 at Citi Field in Flushing, N.Y., home stadium of baseball's New York Mets. Featuring stars Alessandro del Piero, Gianluigi Buffon and Milo� Krasi?, Juventus are a perennial contender in Italy, though the side finished a disappointing seventh place in the recently-completed 2010-11 Serie A season. Based in the northern Italian city of Turin, Juventus are two-time European champions and 27-time Italian league winners and rank as one of the game's traditional giants. But the club is still recovering from a match-fixing scandal that led to its first-ever relegation from the top division in 2006.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Alexandros Tziolis is the Jody Gerut of soccer.

From the Greek news this morning:
"The game was played within a short proximity of the spiritual/symbolic* home of America's Greek population"

* The adjective used has no direct English translation.

[G-Fafif]

Matt Artus (whom I miss at Always Amazin' because he too often gets lost amid all the content at Amazin' Avenue) did a great job exploring the differences between a Citi Field soccer crowd and baseball crowd, here. Does a great job of capturing the retro-Shea vibe.

A hospitality attendant invited me in to look around as none of the clubs would enforce the entrance standards that socially stratify fans attending Mets home games. 39,656 soccer fans could take full advantage of the building's amenities and experience the previously-restricted eggplant parmigiana sandwich in the Delta Sky Club or have a drink in the Caesars Club without fear of expulsion. It didn't matter. When the game was in progress, no one left their seats. There were no lines at the restrooms, the concession stands, the gift shops. The concourses were devoid of the folks you typically need to navigate through at Mets games. Soccer, of course, lacks the commercial break -- and the bathroom or hot dog break that often coincides with it in baseball. And these fans from Queens who presumably attend Mets home games with great frequency did not feel morally obligated to create a queue for a Shake Shack burger. Staying in their seats wasn't the only way to support the game in progress, though. [...] Homemade banners. The banners hung down without rhyme or reason, obstructing the Pepsi, Bob's Furniture, and others advertisements adorning every deck at Citi Field. It probably helped that Tuesday's match did not air on American television, but I found it amazing to see as my first-ever [non] Mets game was the now-extinct Banner Day. Immediately before the match, the audio booth belted out the "Ole" track that frequently supplements the cheers for Jose Reyes at Mets games. They followed it with the "We Will Rock You" chant shortly before the first national anthems were performed. After that, the soundtrack of the evening would be supplied solely by the fans in attendance and the drums, horns, and vuvuzelas they brought with them. [...] Despite the shortcomings of folks who hadn't produced a soccer match in eight years, it all felt very energetic and, more importantly, democratic. Without the constraints of where you can and can't go as well as the blaring chants instructing you to SCREAM LOUD NOW!!! AAAHH!!! and it just felt like Shea used to feel. Like you were there for the game and the game alone. And that there's plenty of hot dogs on the grill if you're hungry.

[ashie62]

Willets Point wrote: Valadius wrote: Bring back the Cosmos. Only if they can bring back a young Giorgio Chinaglia.

Can Pele come back with Sylvestor Stallone? The were great against the Germans in "Victory."

[metirish]

The MLS is quietly doing a good job with this soccerball carryon.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Oh, I dunno. Their contempt for basic labor and competition standards has been grossly abusive.

[metirish]

Edgy DC wrote: Oh, I dunno. Their contempt for basic labor and competition standards has been grossly abusive.

explain please.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Well, from the very beginning, MLS made it a policy of the league holding all the contracts and assigning players to teams. Star players in the early years were making part-time-quality salaries. MLS didn't care to live up to US standards or FIFA standards. No freedom of movement for players, no selling oneself on the open market. Meanwhile, virtually any player in the league can be transferred to another club within the league without his consent even if such transfer is international.

Ridiculous.

They had 80% of the players working without guaranteed contracts. The contract of almost every player in the league contained multiple, unilateral one-year options that may only be exercised by the league.

It's been disgusting, and it's doubly wrong that FIFA allows them membership while they blatantly violate the rules.

As duan says, that America outwardly preaches the gospel of competition while it runs its sports leagues as cartels can't continue to remain lost on the world forever.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

The Second Spitter wrote: Alexandros Tziolis is the Jody Gerut of soccer. From the Greek news this morning: "The game was played within a short proximity of the spiritual/symbolic* home of America's Greek population" * The adjective used has no direct English translation.

Astoria over Detroit? Really?

[metirish]

Edgy DC wrote: Well, from the very beginning, MLS made it a policy of the league holding all the contracts and assigning players to teams. Star players in the early years were making part-time-quality salaries. MLS didn't care to live up to US standards or FIFA standards. No freedom of movement for players, no selling oneself on the open market. Meanwhile, virtually any player in the league can be transferred to another club within the league without his consent even if such transfer is international. Ridiculous. They had 80% of the players working without guaranteed contracts. The contract of almost every player in the league contained multiple, unilateral one-year options that may only be exercised by the league. It's been disgusting, and it's doubly wrong that FIFA allows them membership while they blatantly violate the rules. As duan says, that America outwardly preaches the gospel of competition while it runs its sports leagues as cartels can't continue to remain lost on the world forever.

Never thought about it like that, yeah it does suck although it is a very american model?

[Valadius]

Seems more like a communist model to me.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Alexandros Tziolis is the Jody Gerut of soccer. From the Greek news this morning: "The game was played within a short proximity of the spiritual/symbolic* home of America's Greek population" * The adjective used has no direct English translation. Astoria over Detroit? Really?

I don't think there were that many boatloads of Greek immigrants sailing in on Lake Michigan.

From the 2000 US Census;

[Willets Point]

White Pine County, Nevada is unexpectedly Greek.

[metirish]

Willets Point wrote: White Pine County, Nevada is unexpectedly Greek.

This changes everything.

[Willets Point]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Valadius wrote: Bring back the Cosmos. Eric Cantona and several business partners are working on it.

And now Cantona is going to coach the Cosmos in a testimonial game against Manchester United. Never mind that they don't actually have a team.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Willets Point wrote: White Pine County, Nevada is unexpectedly Greek.

Tarpon Springs, FL is the real shocker. Something like 10 per cent of the population.

On a somewhat related note, the book "Baseball's golden Greeks: The first forty years, 1934-1974" cites a survey conducted in 1955 by Greek American Athletic Association of Greek-American baseball fans. The % break-down was:
Dodgers 23
Giants 18
Tigers 14
Yankees 12
Cubs 10
Orioles 8

The hilarious thing about this is that Yankees had a player of very Greek heritage on their �52 World Series roster.

[MFS62]

The Second Spitter wrote: The hilarious thing about this is that Yankees had a player of very Greek heritage on their �52 World Series roster.

Not that I'm a font of Yankee knowledge (nor do I want to be), but I'll give it a try- Gus Triandos?

LAter