Sounders FC at San Jose Earthquakes
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Kickoff: 7:30PM PDT
Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CA
By Shawn Wheeler
Before we get into the match preview, go get your Seattle voter's ballot, vote Yes on Prop 1 to ensure the funding of the Seattle Parks Department and the soccer fields in our city, and take it to the mailbox. I'll wait.
Okay, now that that's done, let's talk about Soccer For All. As supporters of the Sounders, lovers of the sport and investors in the growth of soccer in America, we feel it is imperative that soccer of ALL LEVELS be accessible for EVERYONE. This means everything from ensuring the future of our city's soccer fields be properly maintained to limiting ticket prices at professional matches. It means giving everyone the opportunity to play as ECS FC has done with teams across the Puget Sound area and creating our own beginner level organizations in the Pub Leage and Adult Academy.
As you know by now, the ECS is not officially traveling to San Jose to support this weekend. San Jose is one of our closest MLS opponents and the ECS has regularly traveled 200 or more supporters to Buck Shaw Stadium in support of our boys. We've done away choreos there for several matches, expressing our support for SSFC and taking shots at the home team. Add in the prospect of a fun weekend in San Francisco, and San Jose away is a match that our traveling supporters look forward to every year.
The decision to not attend this match was not an easy one, but when we were informed of the price of our tickets at Levi's Stadium, we felt that in order to protect the growth of the sport in America we had to make a strong statement. We've seen ticket prices increase league-wide over the past five seasons, including "premium" games in some cities seeing a 30-40% price increase for home and away supporters. Ticket prices for the match at Levi's Stadium on Saturday start at $53, including the tickets the ECS was offered for the match. This is an unacceptable hindrance to the accessibility of soccer for everyone, whether it be traveling supporters, home "ultras" or families wanting a night at the stadium enjoying their local team. With the league-wide trend of ticket increases and special "one-off" matches such as this driving away fans and supporters, we are concerned about the long-term health and stability of the league. When their greed drives away the loyal fans, who will be there to pick them up when the struggles come?
Alas, despite our protest, The Boys in Rave Green will be taking on the Bash Brothers. Widely heralded as the dirtiest team in the league, and apparently proud of that, San Jose enters the match at the bottom of the Western Conference. They struggle to score, with their 22 goals being better than only Chivas and Montreal. Their defense has shown strong, with only 20 goals allowed, but they can't seem to get wins from their defensive efforts, having only five on the season. Coming off a 5-1 win against Chicago on July 23, they will be well-rested and feeling a renewed sense of confidence.
Meanwhile, our beloved Sounders took a drubbing from the Galaxy on Monday, and need to come out and show that when we play our game, we are the best team in the league. With a potentially full-strength lineup with Leo and Chad getting back in there, we should be well-positioned to demonstrate our dominance while ruining their pants party.
UP THE SOUNDERS! UP THE ECS!
P.S. Go fill out your ballot if you ignored me earlier!
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