Around 70,000 fans rocked M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Sunday and it was clearly a Latin beat. As the United States national team rolled past a scrappy El Salvador team 5-1 in the opener of the doubleheader with Honduras shutting out Costa Rica 1-0 in the nightcap.
I wrote last week that only 26,000 tickets had been sold for Sunday's quarter finals doubleheader in Charm City. But a huge last minute push from fans of El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica saw over 40,000 tickets sold in less than three days.
While the games were entertaining watching the crowd was even better. This was a true international event and it was if we were watching a soccer game in Latin America. The soccer fans knew every aspect of the sport and were in both games till well after the referee's whistle sounded.
As a fan in the crowd I can tell you that watching the joy, the fun and the support given to their teams by the fans of El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica was inspiring to the U.S. fans who were in the minority. It was a lesson in having fun and enjoying soccer no matter who was playing.
Both the United States and Honduras advanced to play in this week's semi finals to be played on Wednesday at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas starting at 7 p.m ET The second half the doubleheader will a real monster game with Mexico facing Panama with a 10 p.m.ET start time.
Both games will air live on Fox Soccer Channel with the pregame show starting at 6:30 p.m. ET with a full half hour of Gold Cup Match Day.
The two winners will face each other 4 p.m. ET Sunday at Soldiers Field in Chicago with that game airing on Fox nationally.
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