Preparatory matches ahead of the World Cup are continuing all around North America, and in some cases, are even drawing some impressive crowds, like the 90k+ who showed up to watch Argentina against Honduras last night in College Station.
College Station is home to Texas A&M University, and in true Texas fashion, houses a stadium that could fit practically the entire town. (Or the entire student body, plus tens of thousands more, as it were; A&M is the largest university by enrollment in the United
States, with over 70k students and Kyle Field has a capacity of over 100k.)
Presumably tickets were slightly less expensive than to the actual World Cup games starting later this week, though I suspect for the bigger names and teams from the Americas, attendance will not be an issue despite FIFA’s ridiculous pricing and ticket distribution schemes.
In any case, future Chelsea player Valentín Barco started for the defending champs and played the first half before being replaced by Rodrigo de Paul at the break. Enzo Fernández also made an appearance, playing the final half hour or so. Lionel Messi was rested, so the day belonged to Lautaro Martínez, who picked up a goal and an assist in the 2-0 win.
Under slightly less impressive circumstances — at the half-full stadium of the Columbus Crew — Ecuador held their final tune-up for the tournament at which they’re hoping to make some waves, beating Guatemala, 3-0 earlier today. If Ecuador can keep finding goals at this rate, they will certainly be a force to be reckoned with at the World Cup.
Moisés Caicedo played the second half and put in an impressive shift. Young Kendry Páez also did well in his 45 minutes of action in the first half.
