Jeremy Posted September 24, 2010 Share Posted September 24, 2010 GENEVA, Switzerland - The Polish national team will take on Ecuador in a friendly match at Saputo Stadium in Montreal, on October 12. The match will conclude Poland’s two-game tour of North America, with the first match against the USA taking place in Chicago on October 9. Montreal has been chosen to host this match due to the strong Polish community living in and around the city. The six hour time difference between Canada and Poland will result in the match kicking off at 4pm local time to ensure that patriotic fans in Poland can watch the action live. The organisation of this match will be handled by SPORTFIVE International, the world’s no.1 football agency and one of Europe’s largest sports marketing agencies. The agency, which is a company of Lagardère Unlimited, will offer the expertise and experience of its in-house Friendlies Match Department to ensure smooth operations and a professional approach. Commenting on the match, Franciszek Smuda, the Polish national team coach, said, “We are very much looking forward to these two matches in Chicago and Montréal, two cities with a large Polish community. The matches represent a good challenge for us as important preparations for UEFA EURO 2012™ begin and we are thankful to SPORTFIVE International for their support in helping the Polish team.” In the build up to UEFA EURO 2012™, football in Poland is in the limelight. As co-host of the event with its neighbour, the Ukraine, the Polish national team has automatically secured its place, giving friendly matches, such as this North American tour, an essential role in preparing the team for the excitement in 2012. Tickets will go on sale today at 3pm via Admission Network (514... / 1-800-3... / admission.com) and at the Saputo Stadium ticket office. The price of a ticket is $31 in general admission (taxes included, plus service fee). -30- Heidi Farr Public Relations and Communications http://montrealimpact.com/News/News.aspx?language=EN&ArticleID=1490&Focus=0 31$ is kind of expensive for a Tuesday afternoon game. That said I'll probably go anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted September 24, 2010 Share Posted September 24, 2010 Very weird match for Montreal. Despite what the article claims, I have never been under the impression that Montreal had a very big Polish community. Not really many players on either team I am that excited about seeing. I would probably be more interested in seeing how the Ecuador coach Rueda does as he was Honduras' coach in the last WCQ and I was impressed with him. Not sure whether I will bother going to this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianSoccerFan Posted September 26, 2010 Share Posted September 26, 2010 How was the Polish turn out at the Big O for the U20's in 2007? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted September 27, 2010 Share Posted September 27, 2010 How was the Polish turn out at the Big O for the U20's in 2007? There were a lot of Poles at that game but not many of them were from Montreal. I think attendance at this game is going to depend on how many Poles/Ecuadorians from southern Ontario and northern US are willing to drive to Montreal for the game. Neither country have particularly big communities in Montreal and I doubt this game will raise much excitement among regular soccer fans in Montreal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razcle Posted September 27, 2010 Share Posted September 27, 2010 Wow, this is very unusual. I don't know much of the demographics of Poles in Montreal but I do know of the Soccer saturation that is going on in Canada this year especially. With all of the "Extra" games that Impact STH have had the opportunity to pay for this season, will there be many that show up to this match? In Monteal especially, there have been a handful of friendlies between club teams and I don't think many of them (except the Milan friendly) have drawn large crowds. If you are from the Montreal area, please speak up if this friendly will attract you to put down $30 to attend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Posted September 27, 2010 Author Share Posted September 27, 2010 Like I said, I'll go, not everyday you can watch live international soccer... And 30$ is expensive, but not ''holy sh*t'' expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Dang. Either of these sides would have been a good opponent for Canada's North American players. Too bad about the timing. Isn't it a bit odd that a European side is on this side of the Atlantic in the autumn? With the pricing, the midweek afternoon start, and the communities involved, it may be a tough sell. But, I wish them well. It may encourage other sides to visit Canada for actual matches against the host. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Posted October 4, 2010 Author Share Posted October 4, 2010 I will probably wait until kick-off and bargain with a scalper for a 20 $ ticket or less. I wonder if Saputo could have offered a rebate for season tix holders on these tickets? Obviously it won't sell out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Isn't it a bit odd that a European side is on this side of the Atlantic in the autumn? The reason they are in North America is they are already qualified for the Euro as hosts and most of the other European countries are busy with qualification for the Euro on these dates. Bringing in two high quality opponents probably would have been expensive so they prefer to get a decent appearance fee by playing the US and then play a decent team like Ecuador (who will be playing Colombia in Red Bull Arena in New Jersey a few days earlier) in Montreal at little cost even if they probably won't make much money from the game either. I think we can see similar motives for Ukraine. They bring a fairly cheap opponent over for the first game (us) and then play Brazil in England for which they should make some decent money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free kick Posted October 13, 2010 Share Posted October 13, 2010 Looks like the game ended 2-2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolando Posted October 13, 2010 Share Posted October 13, 2010 Looks like the game ended 2-2. http://www.polishsoca.com/newswire/national-team/2436-ecuador-and-poland-see-to-2-2-end Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted October 13, 2010 Share Posted October 13, 2010 I didn't end up going, with the Impact in the playoffs it was hard to justify taking even more time from work etc. to see a game I really could care less about. Did anyone go? What was attendance like? This game seemed completely under the radar in Montreal, even a Canada game has a lot more buzz/promotion than this game and that is saying a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 Found some video footage of the game on Youtube. One fan posted the attendance was about 3000. It is hard to tell as they try to avoid too many shots of the empty stands and we don't see the whole stadium but it looks to me like somewhere between 1500 and 3000. Benitez the guy who scored the two goals for Ecuador is the same guy who played for Santos Laguna against the Impact in CCL. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfQZHVPRSME Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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