With My Own Two Hands

I attended the US v Guatemala game tonight with my buddy Mark and some of his friends. The US won 2-0 with goals from Kenny Cooper and Freddy Adu. We had seats in the front row behind the Gatorade next to the US Bench. It was quite fun being down that low. Mark had fun giving Guatemala’s fans the business. We had a loud group a few rows back from us. Overall, the crowd was disappointing turnout. All things considered, the game was mid-week and meaningless to the US. There was absolutely no advertising for the game. The tickets were the most expensive of the three home games this round. I’m not sure why, they had to expect this game would be meaningless. I hope US Soccer Federation considers all of this when thinking about future games. Anyway I had fun at the game. I even got my hands on the game ball. The ball bounced my way about a minute before the half, and I caught it.

As for the game, I think the US did well. Guatemala did not offer much. I was surprised; I figured they would go all out since they had to win. They sat back more then I thought they would. The US defense was never really tested until late in the game after it was already decided. US soccer fans got their wish of having Altidore, Cooper, and Adu in the line-up. They did well after settling down after some bad touches early on. Altidore assisted on Cooper's goal. Adu nailed a free kick. He did have quite a few poor dead ball kicks before that though. I thought Adu looked dangerous overall in the run of play. Overall, I was happy with the team's play considering that it was a mix of the "C-Team" with "A-Team" hopefuls.

I attended the American Outlaws Tailgate Party before the game. It was cool. Nowhere near as big as the one in D.C. It was still a good atmosphere. Free Beer and Food. I got to meet Captain America, Abe Lincoln, Neil Armstrong, Rocky Balboa, and Paul Revere. They are from Pennsylvania. They were the same guys we saw in D.C. last month. Here are some pictures from the tailgate and game.




Neil Armstrong plays soccer







Warm-Ups





Brian Ching and Conor Casey getting ready to go into the game.




Cooper, Adu, & Altidore on the bench after getting the job done.