Evening Ramblings: Some Appealing Home Stadiums Around the Globe

I feel like I've been slacking off a little when it comes to the international game beyond our beloved USMNT, so here's a post doing just that.

I've always been interested in stadiums, attendance, and the whole concept of home-field advantage.  Whether brand new or decades old, stadiums can help create the type of inhospitable atmosphere that coaches dream of, serving as the proverbial 12th man.  They can also enhance the enjoyment of the game for the home fans, with modern amenities, flawless sight lines, or at least a little bit of charm.  Here are a couple of interesting grounds across the globe that aren't necessarily the best (as if that could be determined anyway), but they are unique places at which I'd love to take in a game:

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OFC: Lawson Tama Stadium (Solomon Islands)

I'll start this off with the OFC, the oft-forgotten sixth confederation.   When you think international football, the Solomon Islands aren't the first country that comes to mind, but their home stadium is one that I've always been fond of.  It's far from glamorous, with it's meager stands and hillside seating, but the hordes of fans (up to 20,000 at times) that surround the field all the way up to the overhanging trees creates an atmosphere that you won't find in many other places.  It reminds me of my youth, watching games from a grassy knoll on a sunny day.  Except, of course, multiplied by a couple thousand. 

UEFA: Qemal Stafa Stadium (Albania)

With all due respect to Wembley and some of the other more notable stadiums across the Old Continent, none appeals to me more than Albania's home ground.  When the USMNT and home field advantage are discussed, the size of soccer-specific stadiums is often cited as a hindrance to a truly imposing environment.  But with a capacity of just 19,600 (right around the size of Crew Stadium and the like), Qemal Stafa Stadium has created just that.  Albania is far from a European power, but they've managed to pull off some great results and challenge some much more talented teams in recent years thanks in large part to the atmosphere that their home ground provides. 

CONCACAF: Estadio Azteca (Mexico)

Most of you are probably already very familiar with the home ground of El Tri.  With 105,000 green-clad crazies filling the steep stands at Azteca, tossing all sorts of objects and fluids at opposing players (not to mention smog and altitude), it'd be an understatement to say that it's tough to get a result in Mexico City.  While I'd be going into the lions' den, there's nothing I'd like to do more than to go see the USMNT play in Mexico and go after that elusive road victory.  Assuming the world doesn't end in 2012 (fingers crossed!), I really hope to make that trek in the Hex games of 2013.

Bill Simmons might not exactly be a soccer writer, but he did a pretty good job in summing up just what a game at Azteca is like.  I don't know if any other stadium creates as much of a home field advantage as this one.

CONMEBOL: Estadio Hernando Siles (Bolivia)

You know you're stadium is pretty unique when FIFA creates a rule largely because of it.  That's exactly what happened back in 2007, when Sepp Blatter and company set an altitude ban because of the difficult conditions in La Paz.  

The stadium has since been given the OK, helping Bolivia to a historic 6-1 rout of Argentina in 2010 World Cup qualification.  It's one of, if not the highest home field used for FIFA matches, and I'd love to head into the heart of the Andes to check it out for myself.  
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Like styles of play and fan support, stadiums differ from nation to nation, culture to culture.  There isn't necessarily a "better" or "worse"; there are just differences.  And it's those differences that add yet another facet to the always interesting and varied world of international football.




Feel free to chime in if you have a favorite of your own that I didn't include.