We already know that the Rose Bowl will be packed to capacity for Saturday’s CONCACAF Cup match between the US and Mexico.
What we don’t quite know? How many of the 90,000-plus in attendance will be sporting the US’s Red, White and Blue, and how many will be wearing the Green, Red and White of El Tri.
Given the LA area’s massive Mexican population and past US-Mexico matches at the Rose Bowl — El Tri supporters vastly outnumbered Americans for Mexico’s 4-2 win it the 2011 Gold Cup final in Pasadena — it’s probably fair to expect that Mexico will likely hold a bit of an advantage in the stands.
While his team likely won’t enjoy any sort of home field advantage on Saturday, USMNT captain Michael Bradley isn’t too concerned. In fact, the Toronto FC midfielder seems like he wouldn’t want it any other way, telling reporters on Monday in an interview shared by US Soccer that dealing with a few extra Mexican fans on US soil is something he readily accepts — even embraces — as an American.
“It makes it a unique challenge for us, but it’s something that we embrace: the idea that we’ll step on the field on Saturday and there’ll be a few more Mexicans there than Americans,” he said “Our fans support us in a great way always, no matter who we play against, no matter where we are, they find us, always. So on our end there’s no worry there.
"Certainly when you talk about the United States in a bigger way, one of the beautiful things about our country is the ability for people from all over the world to come here and live and work and, in some ways, make new lives for themselves. And that’s something that I’m personally very proud of, so when it means in a footballing sense that every now and then we play with a few less fans, we deal with it.”
CONCACAF enacted a special ticket policy to try and ensure an even split of fans on Saturday, distributing 30 percent of the tickets to both US Soccer and the Mexican Football Federation, selling another 30 percent through a lottery to which the general public could apply and saving the final 10 percent for sponsors and local youth teams.
The US and Mexico will kick off the CONCACAF Cup at 9 pm ET on Saturday. The match will be broadcast live on FS1 and Univision.
