Championship Soccer Stadium at Orange County Great Park in Irvine is quiet as sprinklers water newly laid grass. The Orange County Soccer Club, normally the stadium’s main tenant, has been temporarily evicted and will train in the park and play its final home game before the World Cup at Eddie West Field in Santa Ana. The club’s recent home win drew a home-record crowd and kept it in second place in the Western Conference. For the next month, the U.S. national soccer team will be the only occupant, using the stadium as its main training base. A large orange orb with the U.S. Soccer logo marks the change. The team’s first public practice is June 8, followed by a World Cup opener against Paraguay in Inglewood.
"During the next month, the nine-year-old venue will have just one occupant, the U.S. national soccer team, which has chosen the stadium as its main training base for the World Cup. The temporary change in ownership is heralded by a giant orange orb the size of a hot-air balloon, adorned with the U.S. Soccer logo and tethered to a rise just outside the stadium."
"The U.S. team's first training session there, on June 8, will be the only practice open to the public. Four days later, the team will open its World Cup schedule against Paraguay in Inglewood, a 45-mile bus ride away. The Americans are one of seven World Cup teams to choose base camps in California."
"Normally the well-used stadium is a buzz of activity. But its main tenant, the Orange County Soccer Club, which plays in the second-division USL Championship, has been temporarily evicted, left to train in the nearby park and play its final home game before the World Cup at Eddie West Field in Santa Ana, 12 miles away."
"For the Orange County Soccer Club, which has just a humble spot on the U.S. socc"
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