The US Soccer Federation should stop complaining about stadiums
On February 2nd the United States Men’s National Team played Honduras in St. Paul, Minnesota. Normally that would be fine, there are plenty of factors that would lead to the US having a competitive advantage. Some of these include: lack of a major Honduran population in the area, the weather is usually colder up in the northern continental US, and there’s always the possibility that there would be snowing the day of the game.
Well, that wasn’t the case in that game. When the game started, it was 20 degrees with a windchill of -12. The temperature dropped to 14 degrees by the end of the first half. It was so cold that at the end of the second half the referee decided that there won’t be any stoppage time. It also helped that the score was 3-0 for the US by the end.
However, Honduras had to make three substitutions that were forced because of the onset of hypothermia. They had to take out Luis Lopez, Romell Quioto, and Diego Rodriguez at halftime because they were starting to get hypothermia. This isn’t any low-level federation or game, this is the biggest federation in terms of infrastructure in CONCACAF and it was a World Cup Qualifying Game.
The US Soccer Federation needs to stop stadium complaints
Not only that, but in the guidelines that the federation has, this game should’ve been moved to nearby US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. At least when Canada hosted Mexico earlier in the qualifiers they provided balaclavas and heat lamps in order to not have any kinds of hypothermia.
This isn’t the first time that US Soccer has pulled this kind of stunt. In a qualifying game against Costa Rica in 2013, they decided to play in Commerce City, Colorado in the middle of a blizzard. That is right, in order to gain a competitive advantage, the game was played in a middle of a blizzard. The conditions were so bad that even Russia would never think of playing the game.
When asked, Greg Berhalter defended his decision to play at this temperature. In an article written by Agence France Presse of Barron’s, his comments were:
"“When we go down to those countries and it’s 90 degrees and it’s unbearable humidity and guys are getting dehydrated and cramping up and getting heat exhaustion. That’s the nature of our competition”"
That quote is insulting because the region as a whole doesn’t have the number of stadiums that could host World Cup qualifiers like what the United States has. In the region the number differs by country:
- Mexico has 19 stadiums around the entire country, for reference the US has over 30
- Costa Rica has five stadiums (Nacional (San José) , Ricardo Saprissa Aymá (San Juan de Tibas), Alejandro Morera Soto (Alajuela) and the Jose Rafael “Fello” Meza Ivancovich (Cartago), Edgardo Baltodano Briceño (Liberia))
- Honduras has three (Tiburcio Carias Aburcio of Tegucigalpa, the Olímpico Metropolitano and Fransisco Morazan of San Pedro Sula)
- Trinidad and Tobago has two (Ato Boldon of Couva, and Hasely Crawford of Port of Spain)
- all others have one or none that can host a World Cup Qualifier
CONCACAF with the power that FIFA gives them should punish the US Soccer Federation as they do to the Mexican Federation with their chant. Every time that Mexican fans yell that chant, there are either two-three games behind closed doors or points deducted.
There’s has to be a point when player safety matters more than a competitive advantage because clearly there isn’t that thinking in the US Soccer Federation. If that were the case why was Orlando chosen for the game against Panama when Panama City is one of the most humid out of the entire region?
Want your voice heard? Join the MLS Multiplex team!
This precedent set by the US makes it ok for Costa Rica to invest in the infrastructure around the Estadio Miguel Angel “Lito” Perez in Puntarenas. This stadium’s nickname is “La Olla Mágica” (Literal translation: the magic pot, real translation: the pressure cooker) because if games were at 11 am where temperatures reach about 35 celsius or 95 Fahrenheit without taking into consideration the humidity.