Friendly Match

Saturday 9th July 2016

Kick off 19.00 Actual 19.20

Club Leon 1 C.A. Monarcas Morelia 2,  attendance 6,062

45′ + 2, 0-1

81′ 1-1

85′ 1-2

@ Dell Diamond

3400, East Palm Valley Boulevard

Round Rock, TX 78664

$55  Admission +$ 1.50 fees, Print at home ticket *

No programme.

I had called in here en route to the afternoon match as it was only 8 miles out of the way. I needed to suss out the car parking options as I wouldn’t have much time to spare. As it turned out it was half an hour, as despite only arriving here at 6.50pm, the game kicked off 20 minutes late.

One thing that is certainly worth a mention. The cost of printing the ticket at home was just $1.50, unlike the total rip off prices charged by most ticket agencies, especially Ticketmaster, who are one of the worst for this. When printed off, the ticket size was minute. Whilst walking round the stadium in the morning I was surprised to see the ticket office open so early, so thought I would just make sure that the ticket barcode would scan correctly. Without even asking, the girl on the desk offered to print a replacement for me, actually producing a proper ticket instead. Always nice to have a real ticket to keep as a souvenir.

As was the case this afternoon, it was another game, played in a manner not expected in a friendly. Good atmosphere too, Leon being the better supported of the two sides.

Dell Diamond is home to the Round Rock Express, the AAA M.i.L.B. team who are affiliated to the Texas Rangers of M.L.B. It was opened in April 2000 and has a capacity of 11,631.

Friendly Match (Interjet Cup)

Saturday 9th July 2016

Kick off 15.00 Actual 15.06

Club America 1 Club Santos Laguna 1,  attendance 15,000

85′ 0-1

86′ 1-1

@ The Alamodome

100, Montana Street

San Antonio, TX 78203

Admission $54 + $8.01 fees (resale) Print at home ticket

No programme.

Just like the Mexican National team, many club sides play friendlies here in U.S.A. to give their fans now living north of the border an opportunity to see their teams in the flesh. Tickets were only available through a resale website, which seemed odd, but no problem purchasing one. Even better, from my point of view, was the fact that it was an afternoon kick off which opened up the possibility of a double.

The Alamodome is home to the University Texas San Antonio Roadrunners American Football team and also hosts the annual N.C.A.A. Alamo Bowl game. It has previously been home to San Antonio Spurs in the N.B.A. from 1993 to 2002, hosted a couple of the N.H.L.’s Dallas Stars games, back in 1994 and 1995 and even hosted the New Orleans Saints, of the N.F.L., for 3 games, after Hurricane Katrina had damaged their own stadium.

The stadium holds 65,000, although the record attendance for a sporting event was 66,166 for the 2007 Alamo Bowl game between Penn State and Texas A&M.

Despite being a friendly, it was anything but, and seemed very niggly throughout. Club America had a man sent off after 38 minutes for an over the top challenge and this didn’t help the flow of the game and just as it looked like ending scoreless, we somehow managed two goals out of nowhere. I had parked in the car park right outside the stadium for $20 , as I needed a quick getaway, although with the stadium being close to Downtown San Antonio, then it would be difficult to park for free anyway. Luckily, the game didn’t overrun too badly and I was heading back north by 5pm, on my way to the second match of the day.