The Chicago Fire head to Columbus this Saturday for the final match at Historic Crew Stadium, a place that’s played an oversized role in the history of soccer in the United States.
It seems small and dated now, but when it opened in 1999, it was incredible—the first soccer-specific stadium in MLS. It’s gone on to host multiple MLS Cups, Christian Pulisic’s USMNT debut, four USMNT Dos a Cero wins over Mexico (and one, ugly 2-1 loss to Mexico after that), a scoreboard fire, and many, many other matches.
It is a terrible, yet wonderful, place.