COLUMBUS, Ohio - Columbus Crew General Manager Mark McCullers announced today that The Crew will host a viewing party at Crew Stadium for the U.S.-England international match on Saturday, May 28, at 3 p.m. (ET). The game will be shown at Crew Stadium's Huntington Club and is televised live on ESPN and Telemundo.
Crew Stadium will open the Huntington Club at 2:45 p.m. and be cleared immediately following the viewing party. Admission to the viewing party is free. The Crew hosts the MetroStars on Saturday, May 28, at 7:30 p.m. at Crew Stadium with gates opening at 6 p.m.
The Crew will also host a viewing party on Saturday, June 4, for the U.S.-Costa Rica World Cup Qualifying match. The U.S.-Costa Rica match is being televised live on ESPN2 at 7:30 p.m., but Crew Stadium will show the game in its entirety in the Huntington Club starting at approximately 9:30 p.m. at the conclusion of The Crew's international game vs. Universidad Catolica (Chile) at 7:30 p.m. that evening. The tape delayed start of the U.S. game allows fans the opportunity to see both games without having to choose between the two.
After three World Cup Qualifying matches in final round qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the U.S. sits in second place with six points. Mexico leads the six-team group with seven points. The USA, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama and Trinidad & Tobago are competing for three automatic berths to the World Cup finals in Germany. The fourth-place finisher will face the fifth-place team from the Asian Football Confederation in a home-and-home series to determine the last entrant into the tournament.
Columbus Crew Stadium will be the site for the U.S.-Mexico World Cup Qualifying match on Saturday, Sept. 3, at 7:30 p.m. (ET). The game will be shown live on ESPN Classic and Telemundo. Ticketing details will be announced at a later date, but Crew Soccer Nation members will receive a priority offer to purchase tickets before they go on sale to the general public.
In World Cup qualifying, the U.S. has a 3-14-5 record vs. Mexico, but one of those wins included a 2-0 victory over the Tricolors in the now famous "La Guerra Fria" game at Crew Stadium on Feb. 28, 2001. The Mexican media dubbed the game "La Guerra Fria," The Cold War, because of the cold temperatures expected in Columbus. In that match, Josh Wolff and Earnie Stewart scored for the U.S. before a pro-American, sold-out crowd of 24,624 fans in below freezing temperatures.
Approximately 19,000 tickets were sold prior to the Feb. 28, 2001, game going on sale to the general public. The approximately 5,000 tickets that did go on sale to the general public sold out in just six hours. Fans from at least 38 states, the District of Columbia, and the countries of Mexico and England attended the match.
The Mexico match will be the fifth World Cup qualifier hosted by six-year old Crew Stadium. The U.S. has an unbeaten 2-0-2 record in qualifying and a 3-0-3 all-time record at Crew Stadium. In 2004, the U.S. defeated Grenada on June 13 by a 3-0 score in a second round qualifying match, before tying Jamaica 1-1 in the final match of the semifinal round on November 17.
