Columbus on Friday will host its fifth straight Mexico-U.S. FIFA World Cup qualifier, the latest sign the "college-football-mad town in the Midwest" has turned into the "de facto caretaker of what is the United States' biggest soccer match on home soil," according to Sam Borden of the N.Y. TIMES. This week’s match will include fan parties, a "live event featuring former national team players" and a "scavenger hunt in which fans can enter a contest to win prizes by seeking out -- and taking selfies with -- seven life-size cutouts of current American players scattered throughout downtown." American Outlaws, the primary USMNT fan group, will hold several events, including "block parties and an oversize tailgate, which is expected to attract as many as 15,000 fans." Columbus hosted its first Mexico-U.S. match in '01, in part because it "boasted MLS’s first soccer-only stadium, built to host the Crew." While the stadium is smaller than other venues that hosted important matches, Mapfre Stadium "offered an energetic fan base and the opportunity for U.S. Soccer to fill the venue while still largely controlling the number of visiting fans who could get in." There is "no official mandate that the game return to Columbus" during the '22 World Cup qualifying cycle, as club and city officials do a "fresh bid each time a game comes on the calendar." Other cities with "newer, larger soccer-only stadiums could offer similar weather and crowd advantages." Sporting KC's home, Children's Mercy Park, has been mentioned as a "potential host if U.S. Soccer ever moved the game away from Columbus." However, the "magic around Columbus has grown so strong that, for the moment at least, it is difficult to imagine the match anywhere else" (NYTIMES.com, 11/7).
