Gold Cup 2011 Final: US Soccer Is a Team Without a Home

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Mexico Enjoyed a the Benefit of the Cheering Crowd in the Gold Cup 2011 Final

The 2011 Gold Cup was played exclusively on the home turf of the U.S. team. And for every game that fact was apparent—well every game until the finals. The U.S. had the crowd behind them and rooting them on all the way until the finals.

The finals were still played on in the U.S., at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA to be exact, but the crowd was no longer cheering for the Americans.

Well, some of them were. About 15-20,000 of the 70,000 fans were cheering for the Red, White and Blue. The rest? Well, they were decidedly pro Mexican.

MUST READ: U.S. vs. Mexico Final, Live Blog and Postgame Reactions

The discrepancy was so pronounced that when Mexico won 4-0 they did the post game ceremony entirely in Spanish, and the U.S. team was left to wonder exactly where the game was being played.

The decision to have the post game ceremony did not sit well with U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard.

Here is Howard as quoted on ESPN:

CONCACAF should be ashamed of themselves. I think it was a f*#!*@* disgrace that the entire postmatch ceremony was in Spanish. You can bet your ass that if we were in Mexico City, it wouldn't be all in English.

I am sure he is right about the ceremonies not being entirely in English had the roles been reversed. On the other hand, it is hard to imagine a U.S. team having much fan support in another country, when they can't even get it in their own country.

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—Richard Langford

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