So this week brought us the visit of the Mexican National Team on it's current US Tour and Kategorie H was represented by yours truly as International Games are always an event, on and off the field. These types of tours are a way to make a lot of money for both the FMF and SUM and of course let the Fans get to see their beloved El Tri up close. The order of those priorities should be fairly obvious to everyone and is not the issue unless you want to bury your head in the sand and believe it is only about the Fans. Once again a tremendous crowd with the number announced at 70,099 which puts it as the third highest Soccer Crowd at Reliant Stadium. I was at both #1 Barcelona - Club America (70,550 in 2006) and #2 US - Mexico (70,103 in 2008) and I can't recall seeing as many empty seats as I saw on Thursday night. Maybe some people just stayed outside and partied in the parking lot or stayed away from their seats and close to the Beer Vendors inside as the game was obviously just another opportunity for Mexican Coach Javier Aguirre to experiment with how the players in Camp can come together prior to departing for the World Cup in South Africa next month. So outside of a few things like Blanco's Bunnyhop with the Ball, Guardado's goal and the sometimes rough fouls for a friendly exhibition (here's looking at you Torrado) there really is nothing much to say about the display on the field. The press conference with the Angolan Coach Renard (a Frenchman) answering questions posed to him in Spanish by replying in English and of course the Q&A with Senor Aguirre who never fails to captivate was almost as much fun. But the atmosphere at these International events is what people who have not attended an event like this need to come experience as it is at present as close to the World Cup as you will get (short of obviously heading to South Africa yourself). Atmosphere samples from Thursday can be seen at Anna Megan Railey's Vid from Thursday: http://blogs.chron.com/fanzone/2010/05/video_mexico_soccer_at_reliant.html
or Matt Musil's from KHOU http://www.khou.com/sports/Mexican-fans-show-up-in-masses-to-see-El-Tree-at-Reliant-Stadium-93734044.html
Friday the US submitted its Official bid for World Cup 2018 & 2022 (the latter the more likely target as 2018 will probably be in Europe) and Houston is in the mix as a Host City should the US get chosen. So show your support for the Bayou City by going here: http://www.gousabid.com/city/local/houston-tx/
At the same time as this was going on the Dynamo did not exactly get a Rocky Mountain High as they fell to current MLS Champs Real Salt Lake 3:1, Goals scored by US National Team Selectee Robbie Findley and 2 by Alvaro Saborio while Brian Mullan got one late for the Hometeam. The Roller Coaster ride this season continues as the mostly dominating win in Los Angeles against Chivas was followed up by a performance that probably would not have qualified for Cash for Clunkers. To be fair to the guys it was the 4th Game in less than two weeks and since the teams is also coping with injuries the available player list is shorter than usual. Speaking of the available players for next Saturday against DC we will not only be without Brian Ching (Congrats on the US Team Call Up) but also Iron Man Pat Onstad and Defender Andrew Hainault as both have been called up by Team Canada for a trip to South America: http://www.houstondynamo.com/news/2010/05/dynamo-duo-get-canadian-call maybe Forward Cam Weaver can help if his injury recovery is complete as Joseph Ngwenya's situation is still not resolved.
Another local team, the Houston Leones of the PDL is set to kick off it's season tonight with a game against the Rio Grande Valley Bravos at the Soccer World Center in Richmond. Complete schedule for the PDL side can be found here: http://houstonleones.com/Schedules/index_E.html
0 comments:
Post a Comment