
<p>For three of the last four home games, the USMNT attendance has been suffering because of the weaker nature of its opponents. </p>



<p>The United States is gearing up to co-host the World Cup in under three years. Still, based on three of the last four home games, excitement and support for this team is lower than usual. Without any World Cup Qualifying games to give the home games extra juice, it may not be getting better. </p>



<h5>Lower attendances</h5>



<p>Attendance for the US was fabulous during their seven home games over the summer. There were sellouts in the soccer stadiums they played in, and then 40,000+ in the American football stadiums. </p>



<p>The US has played four games since the summer and three of those four were played in half-empty soccer stadiums. One has to figure that, had the opponents been of a higher caliber, the attendance at three of these games would have been greater.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-table"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Opponent</strong></td><td><strong>Stadium</strong> <strong>(City)</strong></td><td><strong>Attendance</strong></td><td><strong>Stadium Capacity</strong></td></tr><tr><td>Uzbekistan</td><td>CityPark (St. Louis)</td><td>15,569</td><td>22,423</td></tr><tr><td>Oman</td><td>Allianz Field (St. Paul)</td><td>13,665</td><td>19,400</td></tr><tr><td>Germany</td><td>Pratt &amp; Whitney Stadium (Hartford)</td><td>37,743</td><td>40,642</td></tr><tr><td>Ghana</td><td>Geodis Park (Nashville)</td><td>18,468</td><td>30,000</td></tr></tbody></table></figure>



<p>The 15,569 at CityPark in St. Louis was disappointing as the US had just played there four games prior and sold the place out. 13,665 in Minnesota was a huge letdown. It is the worst USMNT crowd in three trips to that 19,000-seat venue. And of course, 18,468 in the largest soccer-specific stadium in the country is just over half full.</p>



<p>Nashville has proven to be a great spot for the USMNT over the years. It provided four crowds exceeding 40,000 since 2015. The USWNT drew a very good <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/usa-defeat-japan-in-shebelieves-cup-with-swanson-goal-20230219-WST-420550.html">crowd of over 25,000 in February</a>. On Tuesday night at Geodis Park in Nashville, the crowd was underwhelming. Parking around the stadium was no issue and there was little in the way of pregame tailgating. Concession lines moved briskly. Only the bathroom lines caused people to spend much time in line waiting for anything.</p>



<p>Most of the schools in the greater Nashville area are on fall break. Therefore, the ‘school night’ excuse holds no water. The US roster was also about as stacked as it could be. Only Tyler Adams was missing, so that potential excuse is also unfit. Nashville has shown good enough support for both national teams and Nashville SC in MLS. In the past, it was part of <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/u-s-fails-to-deliver-3-points-but-nashville-makes-strong-case-for-world-cup-venue-20210906-CMS-344552.html">US Soccer’s bid to host the 2026 World Cup</a>. In short, there should have been no reason for the crowd to be as poor as it was despite the downward trend in attendance. </p>



<h2>Weak USMNT opponents hurting attendance</h2>



<p>The two home games in September were against opponents that, quite frankly, don’t move the needle in the international soccer scene. Neither Uzbekistan nor Oman has ever been to the World Cup or seriously contended for an Asian Cup title. Nor do they have any players plying their trade at top-level European clubs. And while Ghana is a name that American soccer fans are familiar with, it’s been nearly a decade since the last World Cup battle between the two. As a result, attendance suffered.</p>



<p>It should come as no surprise that of these four games, the one with the biggest name opponent had the largest crowd. Germany is a four-time World Cup winner and has a roster replete with top-level club players. That’s a team that US fans want to see. US Soccer would be wise to schedule more opponents of a similar nature in the buildup to World Cup hosting duties in 2026. </p>



<h5>USMNT routs Ghana</h5>



<p>The attendance may have been poor, but the performance turned in by the US against Ghana was exceptional. They scored four first-half goals and all the biggest stars got in on the fun. Gio Reyna opened the scoring, Christian Pulisic added a penalty, and Folarin Balogun scored a great goal. </p>



<p>Then, in one of the more bizarre moments in USMNT history, Gio Reyna scored a goal off an indirect free kick in Ghana’s penalty area. The referee halted action for a dangerous play from a Ghanaian defender who sat on the ball. The US made Ghana look so amateurish in the first half. After Gio Reyna’s second goal, one member of the Ghanaian media exclaimed, “This team is goofy as hell man!”</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="ck-youtube"><iframe loading="lazy" title="USMNT vs. Ghana | Highlights: October 17, 2023" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sC9MLfreCdo?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>
</div></figure>



<p>The second half once again featured the US players making Ghana look silly. USA boss Gregg Berhalter rightly subbed off Pulisic, Balogun, and Reyna at halftime. Tim Weah and Sergiño Dest in particular had their share of flicks that left Ghanaian defenders flat-footed. The US was unable to put any more goals past Ghana, but it did not matter. The game had been decided since Reyna’s opening goal in perhaps the most comprehensive and dominant half of soccer the US has played in quite some time.</p>



<p>Unfortunately, it did so in front of an underwhelming crowd.</p>



<h5>Upcoming games</h5>



<p>Before the end of the year, the US does have one more home game to try and help change the attendance tanking narrative. It’s a Nations League game at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas on November 16 against Trinidad &amp; Tobago). This will be the fourth USMNT game at Q2 Stadium since it opened in the summer of 2021. All four will have been competitive fixtures, the first three of which were sellouts. </p>



<p>The US then figures to have at least one, maybe two, games early next as part of the annual January Camp. And then over the summer is the Copa America to be played in the US, though no venues have been announced as of press time. Those games may provide a nice attendance boost. But until then, poor attendance will continue to be a concern. </p>



<p><em>PHOTO: IMAGO &amp; Icon Sportswire</em></p>


USMNT attendance suffering against lackluster opponents

The USMNT attendance has been suffering in three of these last four games with uninteresting opponents, despite great crowds over the summer.


<p>Nashville, TN: It was a picture-perfect day to see USA defeat Japan in the SheBelieves Cup match played at the gorgeous new Geodis Park in Nashville.</p>



<p>The <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/womens-world-cup-tv-schedule/">Women’s World Cup</a> in New Zealand is still several months away, but the USWNT is rounding into form nicely. Last year featured a rough patch for Team USA as they <a href="https://www.si.com/soccer/2022/11/11/uswnt-lost-its-third-straight-game-for-first-time-since-1993" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lost three straight games for the first time in decades</a>.  This year however has gotten off to a flying start.  </p>



<p>The USWNT opened the year with a pair of friendly wins in New Zealand.  They then turned their attention to the SheBelieves Cup.  They started that campaign with a <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/uswnt-beat-canada-to-open-shebelieves-cup-20230217-WST-420218.html">2-0 win over Canada</a>.  </p>



<h2>SheBelieves Cup</h2>



<p>The <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/she-believes-cup-tv-schedule/">SheBelieves Cup</a> began in 2016, and has been hosted in the US every year.  Since then, the USWNT has won the event five times, including the last three.  Their title defense is going quite well.  They dismantled Canada, the reigning Olympic champions, in their opener before turning in a professional and defensive performance against Japan in their second game.  Their final game is against Brazil in Frisco, TX on Wednesday.  </p>



<p>The US was far from dominant against the Japanese. However, there were stretches in the first half of the game where Japan imposed their will on the game.  Even after falling behind, they created a number of chances in the second half that either hit the crossbar or took wild deflections in the box that could have gone anywhere.  </p>



<p>The Japanese also forced two different point-blank saves from Casey Murphy in the last 10 minutes of the game but could not find the back of the net.</p>



<h2>Mallory Swanson is unstoppable right now</h2>



<p>Nobody is in better form for the USWNT right now that Mallory Swanson.  She has scored in five straight games dating back to last November.  In those five games, she’s bagged seven goals.  </p>



<p>Her goal against Japan was fabulous as it was totally against the run of play.  It saw her just blow right past a Japanese defender on a long ball, and scored with aplomb from eight yards out to give the US a lead they would not relinquish.  </p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="ck-twitter"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mallory Swanson opens scoring for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USWNT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#USWNT</a> vs Japan! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SheBelievesCup?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SheBelievesCup</a> <br><br>🎥 <a href="https://twitter.com/TelemundoSports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TelemundoSports</a> <a href="https://t.co/KSpUjXBhZ0">pic.twitter.com/KSpUjXBhZ0</a></p>— World Soccer Talk (@worldsoccertalk) <a href="https://twitter.com/worldsoccertalk/status/1627419256903159810?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2023</a></blockquote></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h2>USA defeat Japan SheBelieves Cup in Geodis Park’s international debut</h2>



<p>The largest, and one of the newest, soccer-specific stadiums in the US hosted its first ever international game on Sunday.  Geodis Park opened in Nashville in the spring of 2022 with a capacity of 30,000.  During its inaugural season it played host only to Nashville SC games (both in MLS and the US Open Cup).  But the SheBelieves Cup was the first international event, and it was a success with the US game against Japan drawing a crowd of 25,471. </p>



<p>Nashville has proven to be a <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/the-10-cities-the-usmnt-visits-most-20230121-WST-415663.html">favorite destination of US Soccer’s</a> so it’s a good bet that Geodis Park may play host to both USMNT and USWNT events again in the future.  </p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="ck-youtube"><iframe loading="lazy" title="Highlights &amp; Goals: Estados Unidos vs. Japón 1-0 | She Believes Cup | Telemundo Deportes" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5HFloRH7YLg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>
</div></figure>



<p><em>Photo: IMAGO / Sports Press Photo</em></p>


Nashville was the site where fans watched the USA defeat Japan in the SheBelieves Cup with a single goal that was the difference.

ALL POSTS TAGGED "Geodis Park"

Attendance

USMNT attendance suffering against lackluster opponents

Japan

USA defeat Japan in SheBelieves Cup with Swanson goal