Chivas USA takes on America’s ex Blanco and his Fire
By: Alex | September 28th, 2007Hey all. I will be out of town this weekend, so I will be one of the three Chivas USA fans that will not be at the HDC to see the game. If anyone attends and wants to throw a post game review as a resonse to this blog, I will post them up individually on Monday when I get back.
Good luck to our boys in Red and White. Lets fight for that Supporters Shield!
Category: Team News
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I’ll try n take some pics for this blog. Hit me up on BS.
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Chivas should have won. I couldn’t believe they called Maykel’s goal offside. I think every time a big name player comes, the refs become… Don’t want to say the bad word so I will leave it to your imagination. Btw, I’m venting little bit because my #9 didn’t score. I’m hoping that he beats Jaime Moreno before the season’s over.
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What The Home Depot Center & MLS need to learn about Mexican Rivalries
Saturday night’s game between Chivas USA and Chicago Fire was a second example of how naïve The Home Depot Center and MLS are about games that have elements of rivalries. The last Clasico between Chivas USA and LA Galaxy was the first. After reflecting upon those last two encounters, here are some things that the HDC and MLS need to learn…
First…Rivalry games require the separation of fans. This is a common practice in Europe. This takes a little bit of coordination between the stadium and the teams, but it really makes a difference. During the CUSA v Galaxy game, there were Galaxy fans mixed in the General Admission section near the Legion. When the Legion unraveled their flag, which covered the entire GA section, some of the Galaxy fans, dressed in Beckham Blue jerseys, delayed/disrupted the unfurling of the banner. Later on, some of those fans needed to be escorted out by security.
During the CUSA v Chicago game, the entire stadium was Fire fans sitting alongside Chivas fans. For the most part, it was fine. But you shouldn’t sit Blanco fans that have had a few beers next to a very vocal supporters’ group. You are only asking for trouble. The reason why the HDC sold out is because Blanco polarizes Mexican soccer fans. You either love him, or you hate him. It was after about 90% of the fans had left the game, there was an altercation within the stadium. The HDC’s answer to this was to just throw large numbers of people to break up the 2-minute fistfight.
This entire situation was easily avoidable. Keep the supporters group separated from non-home team fans. The general admission sections should be reserved for away fans, while the supporter groups should have sat behind the opposite goal. When the game was over, security should have created a human wall, cutting off the flow of traffic within the HDC, allowing away fans to exit the Northwestern section of the stadium. Home team fans would exit through the Southern sections and maybe the Northeastern exit.
Second…Security and the Sheriff’s Department need to be more coordinated. Toward the last 3-4 minutes of the game, fans from both sides were throwing cups of soda and water bottles onto the field. The Sheriff’s department just watched, even though Blanco was hit. I hate to say this, but if that was to happen at Dodger Stadium, those fans would have been ejected from the game with little fuss. Even if you don’t like the guy, there is no reason why Blanco should be hit while lining up to take a corner kick. CUSA’s Panchito Mendoza was pelted with a water bottle from the Riot Squad after he scored his goal against Galaxy in their last meeting. Every rivalry game I see in South America or Mexico has at least three cops with riot shields to protect players. Of course, I think ejecting fans quickly and quietly sends a much better message. In Europe, these people are banned from entering the stadium for at least five years.
Going back to the altercation within the HDC at the Chicago game, where were the Sheriff’s deputies? It was very obvious that after the game was over, there was a very Sheriffs’ have the outside, Event Security are in charge of the inside. There needs to be more of a coordinated effort between the two groups. In Europe, the police are constantly monitoring security cameras within and surrounding the stadium to identify any problems.
One last gripe…What was going on with the parking situation at the HDC? As we drove past the stadium, the lines for the main parking entrances were huge. So what did the HDC do? Park people out in the middle of Timbuktu. Now, before you believe me to be unreasonable, I wouldn’t have complained about it if there wasn’t a huge section within the HDC that was blocked out. What is up with that???? The section was clearly visible to anyone traveling East on Victoria Blvd. The next available access to parking sent us through a twisted maze within campus, only to be intersected by another street that would have been a quicker access to the eastern end of campus. The HDC needs to take a few lessons from the Happiest Place on Earth (Disneyland) regarding parking. I stopped going to Dodger Stadium for that reason. I was tired of searching for parking and missing the game. I arrived 15 minutes before the game began, and I didn’t enter the stadium until some time after the 20th minute.
These are the things that the HDC needs to address before next season. We all want the games to be sold out, to be exciting, and to be safe. So we need to do the things necessary so that a few belligerent fans (that are at every sporting event, everywhere around the world) don’t ruin it for all of us. And more importantly, for the development of soccer in the United States.
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