Friendly Match

Wednesday 25th May 2016

Kick off 19.00 Actual 19.02

New York Cosmos 2 S.D. Eibar 2,  attendance 4,000

3′ 0-1

10′ 0-2

12′ 1-2

53′ 2-2

@ Sam Boyd Stadium

7000, East Russell Road

Las Vegas, NV 89122

$28 admission + $8.50  fees, Will Call ticket

No programme.

This was done as a day return, although strictly speaking the return flight was after midnight, but you get the gist. Getting from the airport was easy, taking the local bus service for $3, which involved a change, before getting off at the MGM Grand Hotel, at the southern end of the strip. The trip to the stadium was with an Uber ride, as was the return directly to the airport. It worked out much cheaper than a day’s car hire and the whole day’s transport was only around $25, where parking alone would have been $20 at the stadium.

I am not too sure how a match between 2 clubs that barely draw crowds of 10,000 between them for home games, was ever going to pull in many of the Nevada public. Had I known that the crowd was going to be so poor, then I could have purchased a ticket on the night, presumably saving the booking fee. I am glad I went for the cheapest ticket option as there was certainly no problem sitting wherever you liked.

The match was certainly entertaining, both teams playing with an open and attacking style. The game even went to penalties, although I only found this out when reading a match report at the airport, although I wouldn’t have stayed for them anyway, as they are totally meaningless, but as we know, you can’t have a ‘tie’ over here, even in a friendly it seems. For those that are interested, it finished 7-6 to Cosmos.

Sam Boyd Stadium, named after a major figure in the hotel and casino industry, is home to the U.N.L.V. Rebels American Football team and also hosts the annual N.C.A.A. Las Vegas Bowl in December. Capacity here is 35,500, which can be expanded to 40,000. The Stadium was opened in 1971 and has since undergone renovation in 1999 and 2015.

So, a long and tiring day, arriving back indoors just before 6 am the following morning.

North Texas Premier Soccer Association

Division 4 (Spring Season)

Play Off Semi Final

Sunday 22nd May 2016

Kick off 13.30 Actual 14.19

Inter Milan 3 C.F.H. F.C. 1,  attendance 52

23′ 0-1 (pen)

25′ 1-1 (pen)

77′ 2-1

84′ 3-1

@ Breckinridge Park, Pitch A14

3400, Park Vista Road

Richardson, TX 75082

No admission or programme.

Annoyingly, this one kicked off late due to the preceding match going to extra time, then penalties, and although kick off times were structured to allow for this, it only works if the matches kick off on time, which very rarely happens, if ever.  As the same officials were appointed to both matches they needed a rest period as well. The game itself was only going to be won by one team. Inter were very impressive and played really good football, helped no doubt by the fact the team were of Hispanic background. Unusually for this league, they also had good support.

North Texas Premier Soccer Association

Division 3 (Spring Season)

Play Off Semi Final

Sunday 22nd May 2016

Kick off 11.00 Actual 11.06

N.T.F.C. Royals 4 Dragon 1, attendance 9

36′ 1-0

42′ 2-0

52′ 3-0

64′ 3-1

88′ 4-1

@ Breckinridge Park, Pitch A15

3400, Park Vista Road

Richardson, TX 75082

No admission or programme.

Breckinridge Park is a multi pitch complex, although I think only  four of these are full size, A12, A13, A14 and A15, all of which are used by N.T.P.S.A. to host matches. There are no facilities here whatsoever.

National Premier Soccer League

South Central Conference

Friday 20th May 2016

Kick off 19.30 Actual 20.47

Liverpool Warriors 0 Houston Dutch Lions F.C. 1,  attendance 130

38′ 0-1

@ McKinney Boyd High School

600, North Lake Forest Drive

McKinney, TX 75071

$5 admission

No programme.

I arrived here just after 7pm, only to be told that the visitors had not arrived, but would be here shortly, as their coach had suffered a puncture en route. In England, this would mean the team probably wouldn’t show up, but sure enough, around 8.15pm the coach pulled into the car park. The 230 mile trip north from Conroe, just north of Houston, would have been bad enough as it was, even without the puncture.

Once the game got going there looked like being only one winner, but it was far more comfortable than the score line suggests, the home ‘keeper being by far their best player. I was very surprised that the visitors had around a dozen supporters with them, including five of them speaking Dutch. Not something you’d expect to hear 30 miles north of Dallas !

North Texas Premier Soccer Association

Division 2 (Spring Season)

Sunday 15th May 2016

Kick off 11.00

Somerset F.C. v Goodfriend United, MATCH POSTPONED

@ R.E. Good Soccer Complex, Pitch 4

Elm Fork Drive

Carrolton, TX 75056.

Arrived here to find a dozen players going through a training session as the opposition team had cried off at short notice. Didn’t bother asking which team, but seemed strange as it was 2nd v 1st in the league. More annoying was the fact that it is the only time I have seen that this pitch has been scheduled to host a match.

National Premier Soccer League

South Central Conference

Wednesday 11th May 2016

Kick off 19.00, 19.30 or 20.00  No one seemed to know. Actual 20.05

Dallas City F.C. 2 Liverpool Warriors 1,  attendance 200

18′ 1-0

42′ 2-0

90′ + 6, 2-1

@ Roffino Stadium

Bishop Lynch High School

9750, Ferguson Road

Dallas, TX 75228

$10 admission

No programme.

First impression here is that the club are a total shambles and little wonder the crowd was absolutely pathetic for a local derby. Apart from playing the match on the same evening as F.C. Dallas, although their crowds are also a complete joke, there was total confusion about what time the match was actually kicking off. The NPSL website said 19.00, Dallas City were saying 19.30 and the visitors had tweeted it was 20.00. In the end, none of them were right, although at least the visitors were nearest with their guess. To make matters worse, thunder and lightening was forecast  around 21.00, so to kick off late was absolutely ridiculous. We ended up missing the storm by a matter of minutes as it turned out.

The game was difficult to follow as there are American Football markings on the pitch and the goal areas don’t even have proper football markings at all in places, with many of the lines not painted on. I did ask the Referee at halftime how the pitch was allowed to stage matches at this level, as none of the officials would be able to give decisions 100 % certain that offences were in or out of the 18 yard boxes. Still, as its U.S.A we’re talking about, then I doubt anyone cares, although most probably don’t know what the markings are anyway.

Liverpool did themselves no favours by having a player red carded just before halftime and also had a penalty saved as we reached 90 minutes.

North Texas Premier Soccer Association

Division 1A (Spring Season)

Sunday 8th May 2016

Kick off 15.00 Actual 15.20

Santos F.C. 1 Matadors 2,  attendance 13

3′ 0-1

60′ 1-1

90′ 1-2

@ Harry S. Moss Park, Pitch 6

7874, Greenville Avenue

Dallas, TX 75231

No admission or programme.

Annoying that players can’t make a proper effort to arrive in time for kick off, given that they couldn’t use traffic problems as an excuse, or even working late, for the majority of them. Makes the hanging around worse when it was only about 10 yards travelling distance for me from the last match !

The game hinged on a red card for Santos F.C. after 57 minutes, although they had the better chances, even when playing with a man light.

North Texas Premier Soccer Association

Division 1B (Spring Season)

Sunday 8th May 2016

Kick off 13.00 Actual 13.03

Classics F.C. 2 Crusaders A.S.F. 1,  attendance 7

6′ 0-1

9′ 1-1

88′ 2-1 (pen)

@ Harry S. Moss Park, Pitch 5

7874, Greenville Avenue

Dallas, TX 75231

No admission or programme.

Harry S. Moss Park is a multi pitch complex, although only two of them are full size adult, Pitch 5 and Pitch 6. On site there is a central building that houses toilets and a refreshment stand. With the two pitches used in the NTPSA being parallel to each other, it offered up a very convenient double opportunity.

Third versus second and a draw would have been a fair result in a decent game, as you would expect, from two of the leagues top three teams.

National Premier Soccer League

South Central Conference

Saturday 7th May 2016

Kick off 19.30

Tulsa Athletics 1 Liverpool Warriors 1,  attendance 3,457

12′ 0-1

35′ 1-1

@ Athletics Stadium

4600, East 15th Street

Tulsa, OK 74114

$7 admission

No programme*

I had ample time to get from the baseball so plenty of time for a relaxed meal. Parking was adjacent to the stadium and free. The renamed Athletics Stadium, previously Drillers Stadium, had been home to Tulsa Drillers MiLB team from 1981 to 2009. There have been alterations to make the stadium more ‘soccer’ friendly, which included removing the 1st base bleachers, enabling the pitch to be lengthened. Capacity  here is 10,997, although that will surely never be tested. I am not sure who dreams up the attendance figures here, but I only estimated the turnout to be around the 600 mark ! There are plans for the stadium to be demolished and replaced by an indoor BMX arena, which is expected to be completed by 2019.

On entering the stadium, which had a proper professional feel to it, there was a programme being sold for $1, which apparently had been produced by the son of one of the Committee members. I declined the offer, but then decided to go back and buy one, only to find out they had sold out. Unlike some English Groundhoppers, who would have sulked, or even gone home,  it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the game by not getting one. As for the match, it was far too rushed and played at 100 mph. It was very physical and a surprise that the only red card, for the visitors, came five minutes into stoppage time at the end of the match.

North Texas Premier Soccer Association

Division 1A (Spring Season)

Thursday 5th May 2016

Kick off 20.45 Actual 21.32

Leon F.C. 1 Legends F.C. 3,  attendance 14

2′ 1-0

6′ 1-1

18′ 1-2

88′ 1-3

@ Premier Park, Pitch 3

11115, Elam Road

Balch Springs, TX 75180

No admission or programme.

This second part of a double sees the third pitch of seven done at Premier Park, so far in numerical order. The organisation here was pathetic, to say the least. Another game, due to start at a slightly earlier time than ours, had no officials, so the 3  from our game were moved to that. The obvious thing to do was then appoint the officials due to do the following game there, to our match, as they would be running late anyway. However, the 3 stood and watched the second half of that game, with our original officials then doing our match, once they had taken a rest break.

When it finally got going, top of the table Legends won it, despite having a man sent off in the 83rd minute.