all words and photos by Brandon Hirsch
...
Friday night in Baltimore was a special night for soccer fans. A sold-out friendly match brought 71,000 to M&T Bank Stadium (home of the Ravens) to witness the English Premier League’s Chelsea battle Italian Serie A’s A.C. Milan. John Terry, Ronaldinho, Didier Drobga, Alexandre Pato, Frank Lampard, Clarence Seedorf and the rest of these teams’ world stars brought a magnificent display of soccer to the games fans across the pond.
While the game was great, my story has to start with the drive. Departure: 3:30 pm from D.C. Arrival at the parking garage: 6:10 pm. And no, we didn’t drive to Delaware first. While traffic was terrible and there was a great deal of cursing along the way, one of the best memories of the evening will remain hearing “Highway to the Danger Zone” gently roll onto the radio as traffic picked up speed, and as we passed a Jeep that had painted what appeared to be an American flag bursting from the doors. Given my fears of dying at the feet of an American soccer mob, the timing couldn’t have been better.
When we finally arrived in Baltimore, we headed straight for the harbor to grab some much-needed drinks with our fellow futbol fans. Thankfully, happy hour was on and after some fuel, we were off to the soccer game of the summer (to-date anyway. Hopefully, D.C. United v. Real Madrid on August 8 will be just as, if not more awesome).
The game drew a surprisingly diverse group of fans, and some that clearly planned their departure time better and were able to tailgate (or walk gate?) before the game.
It was awesome to see such a packed house at a soccer game. I’ve been to the D.C. United v. L.A. Galaxy games that were well attended, but 45,000 filled seats looks nothing like 71,000. And the noise…wow. The roar at kick-off was astonishing. If it wasn’t for the annoying startup of the The Wave at midgame, I’d say that this must be what it feels like to see games in Europe. (We are the only country that does The Wave, right?)
As for the game, Didier Drogba launched the game into a perfect start with a rocketed 30 yard goal in the seventh minute. Drogba’s goal bolstered Chelsea’s confidence and they dominated most of the first half’s ball control. A.C. Milan brought an especially tense 28th minute with several solid attempts on goal, but it wasn’t until the 38th minute that Clarence Seedorf was able to bring the Italians level with a well-paced strike from just atop the 18-yard box.
The late first-half goal gave Milan more confidence in the second half, but Chelsea still maintained the better percentage of ball control. In the 68th minute, A.C. Milan brought American Oguchi Onyewu onto the pitch, and the crowd welcomed him with thunderous applause. Unfortunately, his time at Milan remains winless, as Yuri Zhirkov scored the Blues’ winning goal in the 70th minute.
I bolted for the exit at about the 80th minute to pick up my bag from bag check, and thankfully (and surprisingly) it was still there. Despite, A.C. Milan’s loss, all of the fans exiting the stadium had clearly enjoyed this brilliant night of soccer. I’ve got to send some kudos to the stadium staff for making the night go off with seemingly no problems.
Previously in Misc/Awesome:
- 12/28: Terrible Boyfriend/ Girlfriend Generator.
- 12/1: The John Waters Advent Calendar-it starts today
- 11/28: It Chooses You: All I Want for Christmas is Everything from Miranda July's Pop-Up Shop
- 11/3: Things I'd Move to Minnesota For
- 9/6: PHOTOS: Maloof $$ Money Cup
- 9/2: PHOTOS: Chantilly Model Train Show
- 9/1: Libby's List: 5 Things I Want Right Now...
- 8/22: PHOTOS: Best Friends Day
- 8/10: PHOTOS: Lawn Mover Racing, Eastern Seaboard Regionals @ Bowles Farm
- 7/26: Special List: Things the BYGays Want Now That We Can Marry In DC (and NY!)
God loves a cheerful giver.
Oguchi is also a local, born in Olney and attended school in Silver Spring. Yeah!
Arsenal need to stop being so euro-centric and do a U.S. tour.
Nice write up and photos.
@Logan - hosting the Emirates cup is what's keeping the Gunners in Europe, not euro-centric attitude.
gosh white people really do love the idea of soccer.
@ Fitsum HELLS YEA !!!
@ rusty: white people from England created the rules for association football and helped spread it around the world. stop w/the undeducated hatin'
Secksy -- yeah, but it would be smart of them to do some 'branding' around America once in a while (but more importantly in order to satisfy ME), especially since the trend of its popularity seems to be on the ascent. Are you a fan o' the gunners?
russss -- so does every other ethnic group in the world. Observation/truism fail.
I've forgotten which but there's an MLS team w/ a badge that's stitch-for-stitch almost the same as Arsenal's and I believe it's because they're the American "sister" team. Alot of euro clubs are doing this, with Barca going so far as to either launch or sponsor a team in Miami (not sure if it's MLS or USL). Plus the top EPL clubs sponsor soccer camps in the US. there's a reality show on FSC or Gol that follows an Everton-run camp for teens; apparently it's for real for real in that the top kids get to join the club's youth academy. Overall there's lots going between EPL and MLS in that regard. I hear you on wanting to see your team, but we should assume that any club that doesn't pull a Leeds United is probably doing the "smart" thing
Arsenal is my EPL club, but my main mans is Real Madrid. I don't even know why yall are addressing rusty's mystifying comment. it's got "shitshow trigger" written all over it.
suh-weeet. yeah, I'm thinking about ordering fox soccer channel this season to 1) stop having to rely on a low-quality stream (Veetle's are usually good) and 2) avoid paying $10 every time I go and watch a match at lucky bar.
I also might try and make it out the RM-DCU game coming up.
I actually only went to this for the scarves. Has no one else read this? http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/03/03/80-the-idea-of-soccer/
yeah, I done read dat.
It's true, mostly only affluent white kids and poor mexican immigrants enjoy it as a spectator sport.
But disparity is a benchmark for all great things in our culture:
New York City
Healthcare options
Upper management positions
Access to all da white women.
being an Anglo-male is sofa king sweet.
@Brandon - as if there're no Euro whites who wouldn't eat your face for wearing the wrong shirt. you know that post is retarded right? btw, is this Belicek and Black?
@Logan - also FSC has champions league rights for the next couple of years so it's a must. it must be said tho, watching at Lucky when it's packed and the people are feeling it is pretty damn awesome. Ima be there on 8/9 too.
at RFK not lucky.
@ Sexy Fitsum I completely agree that post is stupid, but it still makes me laugh. I love footie and scarves.
FSC is my favorite channel.
Nice write up and photos. Agree, M&T experience was great! Re: your comment "If it wasn’t for the annoying startup of the The Wave at midgame, I’d say that this must be what it feels like to see games in Europe. (We are the only country that does The Wave, right?)". I can share a few fabulous experiences of seeing EPL games in 3 different stadiums in England - no wave - and some World Cup games in Germany in Munich Alliance stadium (seats 66k) and Kaiserslautern (30k) - yes waves. They did massive Waves in Munich with 100% audience participation! I'd say the difference between this match and games in Europe is two-fold: 1) you'd never hear an announcer talking doing commercials and upcoming events during play - THAT WAS ANNOYING, 2) you'd see the whole stadium wearing two different colors, separated for home vs away fans and would hear the whole stadium chanting the various team cheers throughout the whole match (like Barra Brava) so that your ears would be ringing like they were from the roar at kickoff - a very exciting atmosphere.
Football scarves are SOOOOOOOOOOOO 1973. Wearing your club's stripes or jersey makes you an easy target if shit gets real.
True ruffians fuck w/that Casual look. Big ups to Liverpool for introducing dope Continental threads to the game.
@Marcy - they do the mexican wave at La Liga and Bundesliga games, sometimes even players in the dugouts if they're winning.
@Logan if you have DC Comcast and get FSC you'll also get Gol which gets you La Liga, Bundesliga, Brasillian Paulista and some random colombian, uruguyan and ecuadorian leagues. they lost Serie A to FSC two years ago.
Damn...I won't be leaving the couch on the weekends ... unless someone attaches string to a packet of Fun Dip and lures me out of the house.
and now you know what my Saturday mornings are all like.
The Drogba goal was class. When he's not a total head case he's the best striker in the world. Too bad he's normally a total head case.
D just needs a hug every once in a while. Look what happens when he gets one. shot was retarded.
Onyewu went to school in *sandy spring* at sherwood not silver spring