Walk-through at Hongkou

While not allowed to train on the field, the U.S. got a brief walkthrough today on the game field, taking a boisterous 20 minute bus ride to the Shanghai Hongkong Football Stadium. Most of the time on the field was spent taking pictures, as they players didn’t seem too concerned with the choppy pitch that got pretty torn up during the first four matches. During the USA’s walk-through, there were about 30 fans circling the field in an attempt to dry it out. But besides the field, the stadium is spectacular. It is the smallest of the five venues, holding just 34,000, but unlike all the other stadiums, this one doesn’t have a track around it, meaning the fans are right on top of the action. The aesthetics and set-up of the stadium are also fantastic and the atmosphere should be rocking for the Nigeria game. Against North Korea, most of the fans were rooting for the Koreans. Against Sweden, the crowd seemed to be pretty split down the middle, but against Nigeria, with so many Americans living in Shanghai, hopefully the crowd will be pro-USA for this critical Group B match-up.