The Personal Injury Attorney in Harrison, NJ, You Can Trust

The United States men's national team will be back in the Tri-State Area for the first time in a long time.

The national team just announced plans to play a friendly vs South Korea at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey on Saturday, September 6 at 5 pm ET.

The Stars and Stripes haven't been back to the home of the Red Bulls of Major League Soccer since September 1, 2017, a 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifier which Bruce Arena's squad lost 2-0 to Costa Rica in front of an announced crowd of 26,500.

The USMNT did play two more games in the region, both friendlies at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, in 2018 and 2019, before disappearing completely from the New York City-adjacent area for numerous years.

The men's national team made a habit of playing multiple hours north of New York City – in East Hartford, Connecticut, where they'll play again on June 7 in a friendly vs Turkey. Rentschler Field hosted a USMNT-Germany friendly in October 2023, so the Turkey match this summer will mean it's under two years between men's national team visits to East Hartford.

The venues closest to New York City, however, have been off-limits since that disastrous 2018 World Cup cycle and that loss to Costa Rica in Harrison. The road loss to Trinidad and Tobago that officially knocked the USMNT out gets all the attention, but that Costa Rica result proved to be one of the biggest setbacks the USMNT suffered en route to failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, the country's first time missing the tournament since 1986.

After the loss to Costa Rica, there was hand-wringing aplenty in the online USMNT space over selecting a venue that ended up attracting a large pro-Costa Rica crowd. Our old friends from SBNation's Stars and Stripes wrote that the "US Soccer Federation picked the wrong time to place a competitive match in its largest metropolis" following the loss at Red Bull Arena, lamenting the USMNT's lack of any real home-field advantage.

Some people inside the US Soccer Federation must have agreed with this sentiment, or something similar to it, because the national team has been missing from the Tri-State for almost six full years. The meaningful domestic USMNT matches played post-2018 have been staged in places like Columbus, Ohio, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Orlando, Florida, and the like.

That changes as Mauricio Pochettino's team comes to industrial New Jersey at the tail-end of summer, but only for a friendly. The Sports Illustrated Stadium return comes months after the USMNT plays their final competitive matches – at this summer's Concacaf Gold Cup – before the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Now, a hop on the PATH train will get you an up-close look at the progress, or lack thereof, made by the USMNT heading into the World Cup hosted here in the United States but also in Mexico and Canada, with the Final set to be played not too far from Sports Illustrated Stadium, over in East Rutherford at MetLife Stadium.

The wait will go on until at least 2027 – when New York City FC's Etihad Park opens in Willets Point, Queens – to potentially see the United States men's national team play a game inside the boundaries of New York City proper.

The last time the USMNT played inside the City of New York was September 15, 1968, when they played Israel to a 3-3 draw in front of 10,118 fans at the original Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. New Jersey now, and maybe a long-awaited return to New York City later.

Comments

Harrison, No. 13 in the NJ.com Top 20, came into its matchup against Weehawken on Friday with an undefeated record and looked to continue its hot start to the season.

The Blue Tide fell behind 1-0 to start the first set, and quickly rallied to take a 2-1 lead, which would end up ballooning to a 16-8 lead. Alaittim DeLeon led the way offensively, and setter Jeremy Rivera played a key role in the first set, which Harrison (10-0) took command almost the entire way.

Harrison took down Weehawken (6-4) in the first set by a final score of 25-12, and showed that its consistency and aggressiveness around the net is what sets it apart.

“We tell ourselves one day at a time, one match at a time, one set at a time,” explained Harrison head coach Anthony Sabia. “We are looking to improve on everything and become more aggressive with our serves. Also, we are looking to be more versatile with our blocking and diverse within our offense. Everything that we do well we are looking to be better at on a day-to-day basis.”

Harrison has lofty goals and expectations this season after completing a 26-5 campaign a season ago, which ended in a North Jersey, Group 1 final loss to West Caldwell Tech. This season, Harrison seems to be more focused and understands how to win games with a veteran led squad.

Weehawken surged to start off the second set, led by Adam Uryniuk, who answered the bell all day long in terms of creating and executing the offensive game plan for Weehawken.

Uryniuk had 13 kills and eight service points, and started off the second set with three consecutive aces, which helped Weehawken jump out to a 5-0 lead early on.

Harrison climbed back to get within one point, as the Weehawken lead was shortly trimmed to 6-5 before Harrison starting trading punches.

Weehawken eventually led 23-17, and it seemed like the match was destined for a deciding third set, before Harrison’s offense came to life.

Weehawken took a 24-23 lead and Harrison fought all the way back to score three unanswered points to win its tenth consecutive match to begin the season.

For Harrison, Rivera contributed three kills and a game-high 22 assists in the victory, and DeLeon added four kills and eight service points.

Outside hitter Ryan Manini had a team-high nine kills and added five service points.

Harrison has won 16 consecutive sets since dropping its first against Weehawken on April 2.

“We [Harrison] have been down in sets before and have found ways to climb back into games, Sabia added. ”The players are tough as nails and they always come through under pressure, and that comes with having a veteran squad. Most of the guys have been on varsity since last year, a lot of teams in the past would have packed it in and gotten ready for a third set, but not our players, there is no quit."

DeLeon and Rivera have been leaders on and off the floor for this Harrison team, but their influence and experience was on full display on Friday to execute a comeback victory to stay undefeated.

“We played this team earlier in the season, Rivera said. ”They have a few heavy hitters, so it was important for us to keep them off balance and force them out of their system. I feel like we did a really good job in the first set, and in the second set it was a slow start but we rallied with some positive momentum."

DeLeon added, “We picked each other up and we knew that it was going to be a tough finish in the second set. Obviously we had the faith that we were going to get it done, and in the end it was up to us to make it happen, I am proud of our guys.”

Weehawken has now dropped three of its last four matchups, and will look to get back on track after starting the season 5-1.

“I am proud of the resiliance of our team,” explained Weehawken head coach Tarik Sadik. “We didn’t have a lot of subs today unfortunately, but our guys battled and I felt like they gave really great effort out there.”

Tyler Duffy can be reached at tduffy@njadvancemedia.com

The N.J. High School Sports newsletter is now appearing in mailboxes 5 days a week. Sign up now!

Follow us on social: Facebook | Instagram | X (formerly Twitter)

HARRISON − Football in Harrison is alive and well.

It’s just that now, the Blue Tide logo wears a white belt with two flags around its waist. The quarterback throws the ball flat-footed, if she throws it at all. Most importantly, Harrison wins almost all the time.

The small Hudson County school − a New Jersey soccer powerhouse forever − dropped the boys football program after the 2023 season for multiple reasons, mainly a lack of willing players, but the girls flag football program has filled the void. The Blue Tide has become a powerhouse, reaching the state semifinals last year.

For the Harrison players, flag football has become something they grew to love in a short period of time.

Check out the photo gallery, then continue reading.

For the Harrison coaches, like so many others of flag programs, it’s been refreshing, a chance to teach football to a whole new audience.

“To those that think that Harrison might not have football anymore, I would tell them we do, and they should come here and watch them,” Harrison flag football coach Dan Nankivell said. “Once they see it once, I think they’ll believe that this is something special.”

Building the girls flag football program

Nankivell, “Nank” to everyone, would know. He played football for the Blue Tide and coached in the boys program before it folded.

“It’s devastating for me as an alum,” Nankivell said. “I coached in 2017 and we went to the playoffs that year. To watch it go from there to a non-existent program is heartbreaking.”

When then-athletic director Kim Huaranga asked Nankivell about coaching the flag football program at Harrison, she assumed he would say no, but something about the job appealed to him. He could run his Wing-T offense − Harrison’s offense looks more like a single wing than anything else − and he could work with his friend Chris McKnight to run the defense.

As far as the players, Harrison doesn’t have a track program in the spring. The softball program struggles to compete at a high level. So there were female athletes walking around Harrison, they just needed a chance to show it.

“My whole family, my brothers, they all played football, so we were very involved in the sport already,” Harrison senior quarterback Hailey Scocco said. “I knew I wanted to play. I always had the arm. As soon as they were doing tryouts, I wanted to play right away.”

“When I came to my parents and said I am going to play flag football, they said, ‘whaaaat?’ I said I didn’t know what it was, but we will find out together,” Harrison junior Mya De Jesus said with a laugh. “They never said no, that’s a guys sport. They have been open and supportive of me and they know how much I love it.”

Finding success in Harrison

Nankivell has gone all in on flag. His coaching staff includes two women: Jenn Svec (special teams) and Kate Gigl (offense assistant). He runs the social media account with help from Camilla Garcia and Francisco Apollo.

The Instagram account has highlights and pictures from each game. The Blue Tide did a ‘schedule drop’ video that included a walk through the hallways and a meeting with school principal Matthew Weber. You can’t help but think everyone is having a blast.

Winning certainly helps. Entering this season, the Blue Tide were 22-3-1 all-time in the regular season, 24-6-1 overall.

“I think they might not say it, but there is a bit of a chip on their shoulder,” Nankivell said. “I grew up here and can attest to it, but people always count out Harrison kids and it’s especially true of female athletes here. They grow up in an environment where outsiders − the town has always been supportive − but outsiders have the idea that you’re just a kid from Harrison and this is your ceiling, and I think they take that personally.”

On the field, Harrison takes no prisoners. Last Thursday night, they routed Ridgefield, 48-0. The score wasn’t a huge surprise, Ridgefield is a new program, and the Blue Tide looked like a well-oiled machine. They scored on offense, defense and special teams.

The crowd grew to around 80 people. They girls ran through blue smoke coming on to the field. After every touchdown, “Twist and Shout” blared over the loudspeakers.

De Jesus said it's disappointing not to have a boys program. “Every school has one and you have Friday Night Lights. It got to a point where we had to look forward to watching soccer on Friday nights. It’s not normal. I’m not saying it’s bad − our soccer team is good − but it’s not the same feeling as going to a football game.”

Nankivell loves the idea of the girls playing on a Friday night.

“Maybe we could work that out,” he said.

“We usually play on Thursdays and Wednesdays, and it’s not the same,” De Jesus said. “We look at Harrison and it’s known for soccer, but we want to make it known for something else… flag football.”

What comes next?

Flag football has grown exponentially in New Jersey since the New York Jets and Nike partnered up four years ago.

It’s still considered a ‘club’ sport, meaning it’s not officially sanctioned by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association and athletes could participate in both flag football and another spring sports. But it looks like it will become sanctioned for the 2027 season.

There are concerns from coaches in other spring sports, notably softball and track, that flag football will take away talented athletes and leave their programs depleted. Those concerns are valid, but flag football is a fun, exciting alternative. Girls clearly want to play. Colleges are adding the sport. The Jets are sponsoring a regional club team.

The tide is rising. Harrison is too.

“I hear that Harrison is not a football town anymore, I would argue that it is, it just looks different,” Nankivell said. “Girls football is the thing now. I hope we can be trailblazers on the field.”