This was my first chance to experience the game first hand. Let me start by saying that everything was done first class. I was impressed.
We stayed at the W hotel lakeshore where our "meetings" were. The players were also put up here. I was cool getting the players perspective of Houston and to hear how many want to play for Houston. Chicago is a great city and I got to experience a bunch of it (sometimes until 6am, sheesh) Wrigley field is a mecca!!
anyway back to soccer. My game day experience started with a scare as we were short 4 tickets at will call but thanks to Mary Mazza with Chicago, she saved the day. The stadium is very nice, the grounds around it are still under construction so it is a bit of an eye sore. I am sure it is going to look even better when the complex is completed. Bridgeview is a bit out of the way as it relates to downtown so that might keep some from going to games but hey, the land was free.
We sat just off midfield about 15 rows up, it was a mostly cloudy day so the temps were perfect. The field surface surprised me as it was not in the best shape, had a bunch of brown spots on it. They had the sprinklers on right up until 5:00 (:30 minutes prior to kick) The field came up in parts under the guys feet but I think that was the only bad part of the game. (oh, the second bad part was that the ultimate fan from the Dynamo got hosed in the ultimate fan contest. He was all decked out and face painted etc, and some ordinary joe from DC wins. he truely got hosed)
now to the play. MLS certainly controlled the ball over the course of the match. The header by Ching and Albrights break through should have been scores, Brian told me after the match that the ball was deflected but he was sure it was going in. For this team only having played together for 2 days they played very well as two totally seperate units. Ricardo Clark told me at the after party that he was surprised that he and Eddie got in for 45 minutes, they didn't expect the subs to play as much.
The four Dynamo players that were on the pitch all had a big impact on the game. Eddie Robinson told me all he was thinking when he cleared the ball on the goal line was "I am going to drill this into the side of the net". He said the ball missed the post by centimeters.
I would estimate that the crowd was probably 70% MLS supporters and 30% CFC. CFC did bring a large group from England for the match.
all in all it was an awesome experience and one I can say that the MLS all-stars showed they can play with the best. CFC's coach was a bit of an arrogant ass at the post game press conference but that is to be expected.
[This message has been edited by bknetag (edited 8/7/2006 10:37a).]
We stayed at the W hotel lakeshore where our "meetings" were. The players were also put up here. I was cool getting the players perspective of Houston and to hear how many want to play for Houston. Chicago is a great city and I got to experience a bunch of it (sometimes until 6am, sheesh) Wrigley field is a mecca!!
anyway back to soccer. My game day experience started with a scare as we were short 4 tickets at will call but thanks to Mary Mazza with Chicago, she saved the day. The stadium is very nice, the grounds around it are still under construction so it is a bit of an eye sore. I am sure it is going to look even better when the complex is completed. Bridgeview is a bit out of the way as it relates to downtown so that might keep some from going to games but hey, the land was free.
We sat just off midfield about 15 rows up, it was a mostly cloudy day so the temps were perfect. The field surface surprised me as it was not in the best shape, had a bunch of brown spots on it. They had the sprinklers on right up until 5:00 (:30 minutes prior to kick) The field came up in parts under the guys feet but I think that was the only bad part of the game. (oh, the second bad part was that the ultimate fan from the Dynamo got hosed in the ultimate fan contest. He was all decked out and face painted etc, and some ordinary joe from DC wins. he truely got hosed)
now to the play. MLS certainly controlled the ball over the course of the match. The header by Ching and Albrights break through should have been scores, Brian told me after the match that the ball was deflected but he was sure it was going in. For this team only having played together for 2 days they played very well as two totally seperate units. Ricardo Clark told me at the after party that he was surprised that he and Eddie got in for 45 minutes, they didn't expect the subs to play as much.
The four Dynamo players that were on the pitch all had a big impact on the game. Eddie Robinson told me all he was thinking when he cleared the ball on the goal line was "I am going to drill this into the side of the net". He said the ball missed the post by centimeters.
I would estimate that the crowd was probably 70% MLS supporters and 30% CFC. CFC did bring a large group from England for the match.
all in all it was an awesome experience and one I can say that the MLS all-stars showed they can play with the best. CFC's coach was a bit of an arrogant ass at the post game press conference but that is to be expected.
[This message has been edited by bknetag (edited 8/7/2006 10:37a).]