USA beats England: 1-1
The title of this post is a call back to the "Harvard beats Yale 29-29" headline.
Yesterday was a great day. It all centered around the USA England game, leaving the hotel at 1:30 pm for an 8:30 game, and ending when we got back at 2 AM. The pictures tell most of the story - though I didn't take more than 1 picture while the game was occurring. Most of them are of high quality, so you can click on them to get a better view of some.
We started with a 2 hour bus ride from outside of Johannesburg to Rustenburg, to the northwest of the city. When we arrived, it was quite clear that this complex was in the middle of nowhere. There were only a few pubs, a gas station, and a closed shopping center within walking distance. Fortunately, we had about 5 hours before the game started to grab some much needed food.
We found a place that was quite unique: a building with a huge outside area, the building being separated into a bar area and a butchers shop. We bought some raw meat and vegetables, and took the meat outside to the grill. At this place, you buy the raw meat, then give the meat to a guy who grills it up for you. No utensils, and only a communal washcloth to use afterward. But the food was fantastic! We also talked to a lot of USA fans, meeting people from all over coming together to cheer on the Yanks.
We briskly moved through security into the stadium, decided not to buy an 800 rand ($100) jersey, and found our way to the seats. We were in the thick of the US fans, despite having a group of England fans that were South African right in front of us (by the way, to the person who sold their US Soccer Federation section tickets to England fans: shame on you!). Check out the intro video from Ashley at USA/England. Interestingly, the scoreboard and video board was not working for the whole match, so we had to use our watch to guess how much time had passed.
It only took 3 minutes for England to score, on a lazy play by the American defense. After that, it seemed like the USA was controlling play. I'm not sure how the game came across on TV, but there was a sense that the USA could score a response goal. It took a real messy save attempt by the England goalie Green for that response goal. Even after, it still felt in the stadium that England was flat. Don't get me wrong, they had some clear chances where Tim Howard came up huge. But it still felt that it was the USA that was controlling things, and just having trouble to break down the England defense. Perhaps the feeling was from Michael Bradley's constant aggressive play in the midfield, usually forcing Rooney to pick up the ball further back in midfield and passing it away without a strong run. Specifically, I remember a chance for Lampard (I think) rather late, where he tried to make a quick stopping move, hoping to get Bradley to overplay and allowing Lampard to move inward for a shot. However, Bradley defended perfectly, and forced a pass to the outside, where a cross was cleared. Anyways, enough - albeit brief - technical analysis.
When we realized the final whistle was blown, a huge cheer went up from the USA fans. Despite only getting a tie, it felt like a win. For me, it was great to shut down the overconfident England fans. On the way out, we chanted "overrated" to the disappointed England fans. A lot of them seemed confused, as I think it's really an American sports chant. However, the message was received. I usually hate the "rubbing it in" after games, but from the overall rude/entitlement demeanor of their fans before the game and some of the English press acting like victory is certain (from www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com), it seemed entirely acceptable.
[gallery link="file" orderby="ID"]
Yesterday was a great day. It all centered around the USA England game, leaving the hotel at 1:30 pm for an 8:30 game, and ending when we got back at 2 AM. The pictures tell most of the story - though I didn't take more than 1 picture while the game was occurring. Most of them are of high quality, so you can click on them to get a better view of some.
We started with a 2 hour bus ride from outside of Johannesburg to Rustenburg, to the northwest of the city. When we arrived, it was quite clear that this complex was in the middle of nowhere. There were only a few pubs, a gas station, and a closed shopping center within walking distance. Fortunately, we had about 5 hours before the game started to grab some much needed food.
We found a place that was quite unique: a building with a huge outside area, the building being separated into a bar area and a butchers shop. We bought some raw meat and vegetables, and took the meat outside to the grill. At this place, you buy the raw meat, then give the meat to a guy who grills it up for you. No utensils, and only a communal washcloth to use afterward. But the food was fantastic! We also talked to a lot of USA fans, meeting people from all over coming together to cheer on the Yanks.
We briskly moved through security into the stadium, decided not to buy an 800 rand ($100) jersey, and found our way to the seats. We were in the thick of the US fans, despite having a group of England fans that were South African right in front of us (by the way, to the person who sold their US Soccer Federation section tickets to England fans: shame on you!). Check out the intro video from Ashley at USA/England. Interestingly, the scoreboard and video board was not working for the whole match, so we had to use our watch to guess how much time had passed.
It only took 3 minutes for England to score, on a lazy play by the American defense. After that, it seemed like the USA was controlling play. I'm not sure how the game came across on TV, but there was a sense that the USA could score a response goal. It took a real messy save attempt by the England goalie Green for that response goal. Even after, it still felt in the stadium that England was flat. Don't get me wrong, they had some clear chances where Tim Howard came up huge. But it still felt that it was the USA that was controlling things, and just having trouble to break down the England defense. Perhaps the feeling was from Michael Bradley's constant aggressive play in the midfield, usually forcing Rooney to pick up the ball further back in midfield and passing it away without a strong run. Specifically, I remember a chance for Lampard (I think) rather late, where he tried to make a quick stopping move, hoping to get Bradley to overplay and allowing Lampard to move inward for a shot. However, Bradley defended perfectly, and forced a pass to the outside, where a cross was cleared. Anyways, enough - albeit brief - technical analysis.
When we realized the final whistle was blown, a huge cheer went up from the USA fans. Despite only getting a tie, it felt like a win. For me, it was great to shut down the overconfident England fans. On the way out, we chanted "overrated" to the disappointed England fans. A lot of them seemed confused, as I think it's really an American sports chant. However, the message was received. I usually hate the "rubbing it in" after games, but from the overall rude/entitlement demeanor of their fans before the game and some of the English press acting like victory is certain (from www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com), it seemed entirely acceptable.
[gallery link="file" orderby="ID"]