The United States may be too large and varied to ever have a “national” soccer stadium, per se. That is, there can never be a Wembley or Azteca equivalent – those being the presiding, primary national team seats for England and Mexico.
But Livestrong Sporting Park in suburban Kansas City may have become be de facto home ground for domestic soccer goings-on in 2012.
A quick look at what the park has / had going in 2012:
U.S. Open Cup championship: The home team needed overtime and penalty kicks last month to dethrone Seattle in the final of U.S. Soccer’s all-comers tournament.
SKC hosting Chicago tonight: Tonight’s contest at Livestrong is probably the biggest so far in Major League Soccer’s 2012 season. Yes, there have been high-profile meetings that deserved splashy media treatment, usually involving one “David Beckham.” While they may have been lavish feasts, they were not exactly “nutritional” in terms of real effect on the standings. You cannot say that about a match that could decide the Eastern Conference championship and could reveal which side still has a legitimate shot at fetching San Jose for the Supporters Shield.
(MORE: Chris Rolfe has a big role tonight)
MLS Cup 2012?: If things break right – and a lot of things have to break right – Livestrong could still host the 2012 championship game. Under the new format, remember, the finalist with a better record hosts the big match. Right now, statistically speaking, Sporting KC has the second-best chance of hosting that match. (Although that could change tonight.)
U.S. World Cup qualifier: On Oct. 16 the United States will either advance into final round World Cup qualifying or will tumble embarrassingly out of soccer’s quadrennial grand showcase. (Egad! Could that really happen?) Either way, it will happen inside Livestrong Sporting Park, where Jurgen Klinsmann’s men face Guatemala that night. That game, by the way, is sold out.
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- dreadpirate82 - Sep 28, 2012 at 11:37 AM
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Don’t forget the Olympic qualifying tournament in early April, which was so stupidly scheduled at the exact same time as the Final Four games. I believe the crowds were decent, but they would have been much better if pushed back a day, especially with a local team in the Final Four.
I’m really hoping Zusi gets a start in the Guatemala match, but it doesn’t seem likely if Donovan & Bradley are back to full health.
Should be fun tonight.
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- Steve Davis - Sep 28, 2012 at 11:44 AM
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I DID forget about the Oly qualifying tourney!… Questionable value in this case, I suppose, because the qualifying effort turned into such a debacle from US side. But, yes, that too …
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- tylerbetts - Sep 28, 2012 at 7:23 PM
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I really hope LSP turns into another fortress for the US. I love Columbus, and I love Crew Stadium, and I think it should still be the #1 option for the most important US games, but I want to see other places also develop into true “home field advantage” stadiums for us. And, LSP/Kansas City fits the bill to do just that.
In reality, as long as the “hex” stays in place, the US needs five such stadiums. Crew Stadium is a clear choice for a “hex” game every four years (and, it pretty much should be Mexico, until another stadium becomes equal to it – which will be tough, because the “primitive” ways of Crew Stadium help to lend to the crowd being that much more of an impact to those on the pitch). But, that still leaves the rest of the games.
LSP has everything you could want to make it happen.
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- ndnut - Sep 28, 2012 at 11:19 PM
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KC is my favorite because it’s the only soccer stadium anywhere remotely close to me. I have to think there will be a good hex game played there that I might need to snag tickets to (my dental hygenist’s husband’s brother is Robb Heineman so I may have an inside track at tickets
). Also, I heard LSP was being considered for a permanent Open Cup final home. Any truth in that ror that you know of, Steve?
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- Steve Davis - Sep 29, 2012 at 11:27 AM
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I can’t say that I’ve heard much momentum for the call to establish a permanent home for Uncle Lamar’s Tourney (U.S. Open Cup). But I have tossed it out there as a possible idea to explore (a la the College World Series). Might be worth a try.
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