U.S. soccer event builds a fan base
By Bryan Mullen (The Tennesseean)
Bob Bradley sat in a West End restaurant Monday afternoon wearing soccer warm-ups. They were very nice soccer warm-ups, mind you, but most everyone else wore suits and professional attire.
Still, anyone who recognized Bradley knew he was dressed for success.
Bradley, 51, is known throughout the world as one of the top professional soccer coaches. He currently serves as the head coach for the U.S. Men's National soccer team, which faces Trinidad & Tobago on April 1 at LP Field. The FIFA World Cup qualifying match is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m.
"The fact that it's a World Cup qualifier, it brings more importance and an extra level of excitement and passion," Bradley said during his short trip to Nashville. "For soccer fans, what you have at that moment is a sense of what it means to get to the World Cup. When all those things come together, especially in a city like Nashville, people have a proud feeling about being American."
More than 12,000 tickets have been sold for the Nashville match, and U.S. Soccer officials said fans from 43 states and three countries already have purchased tickets.
Music City has a solid history in supporting professional soccer. The U.S. played in Nashville in 2006 before the World Cup and during qualifying for the Olympic Games. This match, however, will be the first FIFA World Cup qualifier in Nashville.
"It's a very good playing surface," Bradley said of LP Field. "From a coach's standpoint, that's always really the most important factor of all. We certainly hope that the crowd is going to be very big. We all saw that there was an intimate feeling in the lower bowl during Olympic qualifying (in 2006). There was some very strong pro U.S. support."
This will be the third World Cup Qualifier for the U.S. this year. On Feb. 11 in Columbus, Ohio, the men defeated Mexico 2-0. The second will come on March 28 at El Salvador before the U.S. team heads back to North America. It all leads up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
Some of the more notable names on the U.S. roster are midfielder Landon Donovan, defenseman Carlos Bocanegra and goalkeeper Tim Howard. As Bradley continues to build his roster — which will include some younger players — he said he is attempting to create the perfect balance of talent, experience and energy to make the U.S. successful.
"My feeling is that there are very good things happening," Bradley said. "As a group, there's a sense of how we want to go about our business, how we want to play. If we continue to do that in each one of these qualifying games, we will not only be in South Africa but that we will have a very good team."