here was so much red, white, and blue in the stands, the green soccer field actually clashed.
Fathers brought daughters, mothers brought sons, friends brought other friends and, well, the Newton girls' soccer program brought everyone.
''It's great, watching the team, watching the fans, the whole thing,'' said 13-year-old Casey Whalen of Great Barrington, who - despite sharing a surname with United States team member Sara Whalen - is a Mia Hamm fan and went to her camp last year. ''I hope I'll get to see Mia afterward.''
Most in attendance were hoping to get an up-close glimpse at Hamm or Julie Foudy or Briana Scurry or any of the American players.
They came with Women's World Cup apparel, Hamm jerseys, signs, and flags. They also came with cameras, so many, in fact, that when the US scored the flashes of light coming from every direction made the field look as if it was under a strobe light.
''This is amazing,'' said Knut Lingholm, a native of Norway who moved to Weston and brought 7-year-old daughter Susanna to the game. ''I can't believe how many people are here.''
There were 50,484, about 700 of whom were with Newton girls' soccer and filled section 219. They were arranged in three vertical columns - red, white, and blue.
The program's board of directors decided it would be a good idea to buy out the section, plus buy red, white, and blue Women's World Cup T-shirts. They sold tickets and shirts as a package to the young players and their parents.
''We just thought it would be a good show of support,'' said Ellen Treat, chairwoman of the board of the program.
Despite the blistering heat (the Foxboro Stadium medical facility treated more than 25 people for heat-related distress), the US team had plenty of support, evidenced by deafening cries of ''U-S-A.''
Somewhere in the middle of all the noise stood 9-year-old Ellen Lohe of Brookline. Although she was wearing a Hamm jersey (''I don't think they sell any other kind''), she came to see Foudy.
A couple of sections down sat 12-year-old Kaity Lamb of Attleboro. She is a huge soccer fan and dreams of the day she will join the women's national team and people will talk of the dynamic duo - Lamb and Hamm.
But Lamb wasn't the only aspiring national team member in the crowd. Thirteen-year-old Erica Finegan of Worcester said she came to see Hamm and hopes to play alongside her one day. For now, she will clap and yell for her, waving a sign that reads ''You Goal Girl'' on one side and ''It's Hamm-r Time'' on the other.
''I think it's incredible that I actually get to see them play in person,'' she said.
Lamb's sign had a chance of making it on to ESPN2, but not if she was standing near Al Milne, Jose Melo, and Tony Dacosta, who had American flags draped across their backs and covering their heads.
The three men's soccer fans wanted to see what the women's games are like.
''It's great,'' said Dacosta. ''Women or men, they are representing the US, so we're here for them.''
