:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49861049/GettyImages-170444535.0.jpg)
Thursday night the United States will battle Ecuador for a spot in the Copa America Centenario semifinals. The South Americans enter as slight favorites according to the people whose job it is to decide such things. But most believe Seattle's deafening atmosphere should give the U.S. all the motivation they need to get the upper hand in the match-up.
Steven Goff of the Washington Post provided with an update on how many tickets have been sold two days out. 42,000 seats are taken, that's just 1,000 fewer than the expected attendance for Argentina and Lionel Messi at the same venue.
Seattle #CopaAmerica tix sales: 43k for tonight, 42k for Thursday #usmnt #messi
— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) June 14, 2016
With two more days ticket sales and a walk-up crowd there's no reason to believe the quarterfinal won't outdraw that match. It's not really surprising that the U.S. national team would outdraw the world's greatest player in the USA, but it's a cool fact nonetheless.
According to SounderAtHeart, this number leaves about 25,000 seats vacant. While that seems like a lot, the USA vs. Panama World Cup qualifier in 2013 that everyone raves about, only drew 40,847. This match will outdraw that one and will hopefully provide the USMNT with a similar home field advantage.
It's really unfortunate that the powers that be have raised ticket prices to such an absurd level. There's no doubt that a sold out CenturyLink would be something truly special for a USMNT match.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6651317/Untitled.0.png)
The cheapest tickets available for Thursday night are $65 and those are assuredly nosebleed section seats. The rest only go up from there. You cannot blame someone for not wanting to pay $600 for decent seats.
The crowd for the USA vs. Ecuador Copa America quarterfinal will be more than respectable. The atmosphere should be electric and help the U.S. out a ton. However, it could've been so much more if not for the greed of the tournament promoters who want to bleed the supporters for whatever they possibly can.