Friendly Match

Monday 1st August 2016

Kick off 19.30 Actual 19.36

Liverpool F.C. 1 A.S Roma 2,  attendance 28,573

29′ 0-1 E. Dzeko

45′ + 1, 1-1 S. Ojo

62′ 1-2 Mohamed Salah

@ Busch Stadium

700, Clark Street

St. Louis, MO 63102

Admission $48 + $9.18 fees, Print at home ticket.

No programme.

I had taken a mid morning flight into St. Louis Lambert Airport and checked into a hotel near the airport. Transport from here to the stadium was $4 single, which included a $1 supplement from either airport terminal, on the Metrolink light rail transit system, which continues over the state border into Illinois. This was on the red line, getting off at the station conveniently named ‘Stadium’. A return ticket was $3, perhaps cheaper as you have to suffer the journey later in the evening with a fair proportion of low life.

Busch Stadium is home to the St. Louis Cardinals of M.L.B. and is actually the third stadium to take this name. It was opened in 2006 and has a seated capacity of 43,975, but can actually hold 46,861 with standing room. Oddly, the record attendance here was for ‘soccer’ when a friendly between Manchester City and Chelsea drew a crowd of 48,263 on 23rd May 2013.

Press reports were saying a crowd in the region of 35,000 was expected, but obviously Liverpool are not such a big name over here amongst the new generation ‘soccer fans’ and the crowd was disappointing. Five minutes into the match 2 lads, probably in their late twenties, arrived and sat directly behind me. They were trying to work out which team was which, just as a white shirted Edin Dzeko hit the bar with a shot. That will be Liverpool was their assumption, but I pointed out that no, Liverpool are the team wearing black. Next conversation had them discussing the next World Cup……..in Qatar ??????…….with a debate on whether Qatar was a country or a city and whereabouts it was geographically. They settled on it being a country…….somewhere in Africa ??????? I pointed out to them that they had forgotten about the 2018 World Cup in Russia, by which time they had miraculously worked out that I was not American. Having told them I was English, I was then asked whereabouts in England I was from…..”if you think Qatar is in Africa, then you certainly won’t know where I am from in England” I replied. They agreed. Five minutes before halftime they decided they had seen enough and headed off into St. Louis for a drink. So much for the game growing over here.

Roma were the better team throughout, especially Nainggolan, Mohamed Salah and El Shaarawy. Liverpool gave a run out to all the ‘big’ names, with Alberto Moreno suffering the indignity of being substituted on 82 minutes having only come on as a substitute for  James Milner at halftime.

International Champions Cup

Saturday 30th July 2016

Kick off 15.00 Actual 15.04

Real Madrid C.F. 3 Chelsea F.C. 2,  attendance 105,826

19′ 1-0 Marcelo

26′ 2-0 Marcelo

37′ 3-0 M. Diaz

80′ 3-1 E. Hazard

90′ + 1, 3-2 E. Hazard

@ Michigan Stadium

1201, South Main Street

Ann Arbor, MI 48104

Admission $55 + $8 fees, Will Call ticket.

No programme.

Coming off the highway I decided to park at the first car park I saw that was $20 or less. It meant a brisk 15 minute walk to the stadium, but I needed an easy escape route as I was flying home after the match. I was quite pleased that fifty yards past where I had parked the cost was $30 and a couple of hundred yards further on it was up to $40. The last car park coming in from this direction was absolutely heaving, despite charging an astronomical $60 !

Considering the majority of today’s crowd were one off visitors, there was no signage up for the ticket collection point. I had printed a map off, so knew where to head for, but still went past the entrance as there was no clue that this was the way in. Do these stadiums even think about this in planning events. Obviously not, but at least I had plenty of time to spare, so not a great problem.

Michigan Stadium, known as ‘The Big House’, is the largest stadium in the United States, having a current capacity of 107,601. It is home to the University Michigan Wolverines American Football team. It was opened in 1927 and every game played here by the Wolverines  since 8th November 1975 has drawn a crowd in excess of 100,000. The record crowd stands at 115,109 when Notre Dame University Fighting Irish were the visitors on 7th September  2013.

Real Madrid were again without any of their better known players, but put in a much better display. Chelsea had regular starters Terry, Cahill, Azpilicueta, Willian, Matic, Oscar and Pedro in the starting line up, with Courtois and Batshuayi coming on at halftime and Hazard playing the last 25 minutes.

My record crowd for a friendly, set on Wednesday, certainly didn’t last long. In fact, this was the second highest crowd ever to watch a ‘soccer’ match in the United States. The only higher one was in August 2014 when 109,318 saw  Manchester United v Real Madrid, again at ‘ The Big House’.

After the match I didn’t have too much time to spare, but as it was less than half an hour drive to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, making my 8.20pm flight home was comfortable.

International Champions Cup

Wednesday 27th July 2016

Kick off 19.30 Actual 19.35

Real Madrid C.F. 1 Paris Saint-Germain 3,  attendance 86,641

2′ 0-1 J. Ikone

35′ 0-2 T. Meunier

40′ 0-3 T. Meunier

44′ 1-3 Marcelo (pen)

@ Ohio Stadium

411, Woody Hayes Drive

Columbus, OH 43210

Admission $60 + $10.80 fees, Print at home ticket.

No programme.

The cost of doing a return flight to Columbus, Ohio was extortionate, as was flying into here and dropping a hire car elsewhere, so I flew into Detroit, Michigan, as I would be doing a game near here on Saturday anyway. Therefore, instead of just doing games on Wednesday and Saturday, it was now a 4 day trip, so I needed games to fill in the blank days. First up it was a  190 mile drive south to Columbus.

Ronaldo, Bale, Benzema, Ramos, Modric, Kroos, Rodriguez, Pepe…….the names roll off the tongue. Sadly, none of these played, due to a combination of injuries and being rested following the Euro 2016 and Copa America Centenario tournaments over the summer. When these big name European clubs tour other continents they are just doing it to make money and have little regard for the paying public. I would be very surprised if any of the Americans would have recognised any more than three of the Real Madrid players, although most probably wouldn’t have heard of any of the missing eight either. Yes, I know it’s only a friendly, but a real public relations exercise is missed here. Funny how all the adverts in the media leading up to the match were using the top stars to sell it, even though there is little chance of them even turning up, let alone playing.

The Real Madrid fringe players were no match for a P.S.G. side that approached the game more seriously. It was a good open first half, but dreadful second as the Madrid reserves were replaced with even lesser names, except for perhaps Martin Odegaard.

Ohio Stadium is home to the Ohio State University Buckeyes American Football team and is also known as ‘The Horseshoe’ due to its shape. It was used by Columbus Crew, of the M.L.S. for two years prior to the opening of Columbus Crew Stadium in 1999. It has a 104,944 capacity, with the record attendance of 108,975 set in 2015.

Organisation around the stadium was absolutely dreadful and despite only being 7 miles from my hotel, it took over 2 hours to get there. Once nearing the stadium there were so many roads closed off it became absolute chaos, as they tried to channel everyone towards the car parks. In the end I parked on the front of a small shop/garage frontage, where they were much more organised and only charging $20. It was about 15 minutes walk to the stadium from here, but after the game it was a case of turning right at the first traffic lights and heading north.

One thing that was impressive though, was the crowd. A new high for me for a friendly match, although I somehow think this will be short lived.

International Champions Cup

Sunday 24th July 2016

Kick off 14.00 Actual 14.05

F.C. Internazionale 1 Paris Saint-Germain 3,  attendance 24,147

14′ 0-1 S. Aurier

45′ + 3, 1-1 S. Jovetic (pen)

61′ 1-2 L. Kurzawa

87′ 1-3 S. Aurier

@ Autzen Stadium

2700, Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard

Eugene, OR 97401

Admission $30 + $3 fee + $3.50 Will Call ticket

No programme.

Eugene was a further 70 miles south on I-5 from my overnight base. Arriving early meant be able to park within 200-300 yards of the stadium at a cost of $25. The ticket office was on the corner nearest the parking, so my ticket was soon collected. I was quite surprised at the number of ticket touts milling around and even more so considering there were 30,000 empty seats, which was a really poor turnout. Not sure what sort of trade they drum up when tickets are so readily available.

Autzen Stadium, which opened in 1967, is home to University Oregon Ducks American Football team. Capacity is 54,000 seated, but holds 59,000 with standing room. The record attendance stands at 60,055 for the visit of Arizona State University Sun Devils in October 2011.

Inter were not exactly full of household names, although I was familiar with Jovetic due to his spell at Manchester City and perhaps much better known was their coach Roberto Mancini. P.S.G., on the other hand, had their Brazilian contingent and Frenchman Hatem Ben Arfa in their starting eleven, with Pastore, Cavani and di Maria coming off the bench. They always looked in control, even when Inter drew level, going on to win comfortably.

After the match I had plenty of time to do the 121 miles back to Portland International Airport. My flight was not until just before 1 am, but with the 2 hour time difference to gain back it meant I was still in the house before 6am.

Major League Soccer

Saturday 23rd July 2016

Kick off 12.30 Actual 12.58

Portland Timbers 1 Los Angeles Galaxy 2,  attendance 21,144

7′ 0-1 R. Keane

11′ 0-2 G. Zardes

41′ 1-2 Z. Valentin

@ Providence Park

1844, Southwest Morrison Street

Portland, OR 97205

Admission $35, fees included, Print at home ticket.

Programme free, 52 pages.

Portland Timbers are probably the only club in the M.L.S. who genuinely sell out their matches. Knowing this meant being on the ball for when tickets were going on sale. I actually phoned the club 2 days prior to the release date for this match, just to confirm the actual time they would go on sale and was surprised to be able to book a ticket over the phone immediately. Three days later I still hadn’t received my tickets via e-mail as promised, but a call to the club saw this rectified within a couple of minutes and they even phoned me back a few minutes later to make sure everything had come through ok. Excellent service. The early kick off also meant that I couldn’t rely on a morning flight arriving on schedule, so I decided to fly in on Friday evening instead, just in case.

Once again, but far worse than normal, the match eventually kicked off 28 minutes late. I don’t know if this was anything to do with a problem with the stadium opening less than an hour prior to kick off following an electronic fault with the turnstiles. No announcement was made, so not sure. As for the teams, when it came to Portland, I have to say I hadn’t heard of a single player, whereas LA had half a dozen I knew of, which didn’t include Steven Gerrard or Ashley Cole, neither of whom even made the squad.

If you only ever visit one stadium in the M.LS. then this is the one to do. A fantastic atmosphere from start to finish, a tight old stadium that has been adapted from baseball  to fit ‘soccer’ very well indeed and seemed like the fans here  actually understand the game. A lightening start by the visitors, which could easily have been doubled, set the game up brilliantly. The Timbers goal just before the break meant the match held the interest ’til the end. With all home games being genuine sell outs, the few tickets available to the general public are what we would call ‘ restricted view’ in England. Over here, the view of the pitch is of no concern to the majority of sports ‘fans’, as they are not there to watch the game, but to eat and drink for a few hours. However, the poor sight lines are easily rectified, as along the back row, beneath the press boxes, it is possible to sit on bare concrete, where the view is excellent and no less comfortable than the bench seating anyway.

The stadium was opened in 1926, as Multnomah Stadium, and has undergone renovations in 1956, 1982, 2001 and 2011, the year the Timbers joined the M.L.S. As stated, all home games are 21,144 capacity sell outs.

The stadium is well located and walkable from Downtown Portland or accessible by the very good public transport system, although I had hired a car, as I would be heading to another sporting event this evening, which was ideally situated en route to my destination on Sunday afternoon. I had parked maybe 200-300 yards from the stadium, for a reasonable $20, which ensured a trouble free exit from the city.

United Soccer League

Western Conference

Tuesday 12th July 2016

Kick off 19.30 Actual 19.36

Swope Park Rangers 0 Oklahoma City Energy F.C. 2,  attendance 1,223

84′ 0-1

89′ 0-2

@ Children’s Mercy Victory Field at Swope Soccer Village

6310, Lewis Road

Kansas City, MO 64132

$15 admission

Team sheet free, double sided.

Today started off with a visit to the Fantastic Caverns near Springfield, before heading north for lunch at a Mexican restaurant then on to the Harry S Truman Dam Visitor Center. It was then a nice easy drive to the stadium.

Swope Park Rangers are an affiliate of Sporting Kansas City of the M.L.S. They were announced as the U.S.L.’s 30th franchise in October 2015.  Swope Soccer Village is a 9 pitch complex, the main pitch being the 3,557 capacity Children’s Mercy Victory Field.

As for the game, it was pretty poor stuff, with the two late goals making it look better than it really was. Another one where they just make up an attendance and the more ridiculous the better, it would seem. I counted 402, so don’t know where the other 800 odd were hiding.

After the match it was back to the airport to drop off the hire car which finished my stint of the driving. A shuttle to our booked hotel, before the real fun started. We arrived  just before 11pm and despite having a booking confirmation, were told we had no booking, although we had missed one 3 nights earlier. The girl on the desk said she couldn’t authorise another 2 rooms for us, unless we paid again and claimed the money back. She then spent an hour and a half on her mobilephone to booking.com trying to sort it out. Finally, just after 12.30 am, we were given rooms. Not good when we had to be on the 4am shuttle back to the airport as we were all on the first flights of the day, me to Dallas, the other three to La Guardia.