Saturday’s national team friendly outside Los Angeles is officially sold out, according to U.S. Soccer. That means a crowd of 27,000 will see Jurgen Klinsmann’s team open its huge 2014 calendar year; the United States meets fellow World Cup qualifier South Korea.
The sellout likely reflects a little amped up interest in a World Cup year, because these early friendlies aren’t always big sellers. The last time the United States closed the January camp with a game at the StubHub Center (then the Home Depot Center, of course) a crowd of 18,580 showed up to see the U.S. meet Chile.
A year before that, there were 18,626 in the house as the United States met Honduras.
Then again, there are just a few more men in camp this time who are probably bound for the World Cup, so maybe that’s part of the brisk sales. Landon Donovan (pictured) and Clint Dempsey, neither of whom were around during the previous January camp, add significant “marquee value” to this one.
What might we get from the game? If you remember, a few of these same players opened up last year against Canada, and the team was pretty dull around the edges. Perhaps this being a World Cup year and all, a few more players will be inspired to take some chances and carpe the doggone diem and such.
Courtesy of the latest U.S. Soccer generated Q&A, here is what Klinsmann says he wants to see Saturday against Korea (a team that took it to Costa Rica recently, but then fell meekly on Wednesday to Mexico, 4-0, down in San Antonio.)
