The more than 90,000 fans attending today’s sold-out inaugural CONCACAF Cup soccer game between the U.S. and Mexico at the Rose Bowl will have to cope with heavy traffic and high temperatures.
Organizers are encouraging fans to arrive “well in advance” of the 6:30 p.m. start time and car pool. Parking for vehicles with four or more passengers will be $25. The general parking rate is $40.
Parking lots will open at 2 p.m. A Fan Fest will be held on the Brookside Golf Course driving range with music, food and autograph sessions from soccer legends beginning at 2 p.m.
Cobi Jones will pose for pictures with fans from 3-4 p.m. as will fellow former national team and Galaxy star Landon Donovan from 4-5 p.m.
Shuttle bus service will run from the Parsons Engineering building in Old Town Pasadena to the stadium beginning at 3 p.m.
There will be ticket check points for all vehicles entering the Rose Bowl parking lots on Saturday. Those without a ticket will not be permitted into the stadium area.
The temperature is forecast to be in the upper-80s at the start of the game, according to the National Weather Service.
Organizers announced on Monday that the game was sold out.
“This is one of the biggest soccer games to be played on North American soil since the 1994 World Cup and the fans have certainly responded,” said CONCACAF acting General Secretary Ted Howard.
Fans applied online for the right to purchase tickets via a lottery system. A supplemental ticking process was held for supporters groups of the U.S. and Mexican teams.
Mexican fans have traditionally outnumbered their U.S. counterparts in games between the teams in Southern California.
“One of our goals for this game was to make the Rose Bowl a representation of both passionate fan bases,” Howard said.
“The interest and demand for an event of this magnitude requires a process that allows for an opportunity for a fair and equitable distribution of tickets.”
This is the first time the U.S. has faced Mexico in the Los Angeles area since June 25, 2011 when Mexico overcame an early two-goal deficit to rally for a 4-2 victory in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final. There were 26 arrests at the Rose Bowl, primarily for suspicion of public intoxication, according to Pasadena police.
The Mexican victory prompted victory celebrations in portions of Los Angeles County.
Deputies from many Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department stations were “addressing some overenthusiastic soccer fans,” said then-Capt. Mike Parker of the Sheriff’s Headquarters Bureau.
The game will decide the CONCACAF representative in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, a tournament played every four years in the year before the World Cup in the host nation of the World Cup.
The eight-team field in the Confederations Cup consists of the champion of each of FIFA’s six regional federations, the reigning World Cup champion and the host nation, which in 2017 will be Russia.
“It’s a dry run for the World Cup,” U.S. midfielder Michael Bradley, the team’s captain. “You get to spend time in the country a year before, you play in the stadiums, you stay in the hotels, you get a feel for what the weather is like and the way things work.”
In April 2013, the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, soccer’s governing body for the region, announced the split of the region’s berth in the Confederations Cup between two editions of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, assuring both editions of the region’s national team championship in each four-year cycle have the same importance from a competitive perspective.
The U.S. won the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup, while Mexico won the 2015 edition.
The 23-player U.S. team includes goalkeeper Tim Howard and 14 of his teammates from the U.S. team that played in the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Howard has not played for the U.S. since making a World Cup-record 16 saves in a 2-1 overtime loss to Belgium in a round of 16 game on July 1, 2014.
In August 2014, Howard asked to take a break from his duties with the national team so he could spend more time with his family.
Following discussions with U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann, it was announced Howard would not be considered for selection for the U.S. roster until September 2015.
Howard was part of the rosters for exhibition games against Peru and Brazil last month, but did not play in either game.
Other members of the 2014 World Cup team on the CONCACAF Cup roster include Bradley, forward Clint Dempsey, defenders DaMarcus Beasley and Fabian Johnson and goalkeeper Brad Guzan.
The roster includes three players with ties to Southern California — forward Gyasi Zardes, a Los Angeles Galaxy forward who was a standout at Leuzinger High School in Lawndale; forward Bobby Wood, who played for the Irvine Strikers club team; and goalkeeper Nick Rimando, a former UCLA and Montclair High School standout and a member of the 2014 U.S. World Cup team.
The U.S. team consists of 12 players who play in Major League Soccer, seven who play in England and two each in Germany and Mexico.
“This roster is obviously full of experience,” Klinsmann said. “This is about having a group of players who understand exactly now what this is all about.
“This is about momentum. This is about high energy. This is about representing my country. This is about belief and a high-level of aggressiveness in a one-off game.”
Mexico’s roster includes 12 players from its team in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which like the U.S. was eliminated in the round of 16. The team consists of 12 players who play in Mexico, four in Portugal, three in Spain, two in Netherlands, and one each in Germany and Italy.
Mexico is 27th in the rankings compiled by FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, two spots ahead of the U.S. The U.S. is 3-0-3 against Mexico since the two teams last met in the Rose Bowl.
