It was a Soccer Weekend

Jenny and I earned our first "cap" this weekend and saw the US Men's National Soccer team play a friendly vs. Chile. Granted it was our "B" squad, as most of the first teamers are in Europe and weren't called back to the US to train. It was a great chance to see some our America's young soccer talent and a few of these guys are likely to be on the squad heading to Brazil in 2014.

JLV scored some sweet seats behind the goal about 10 rows up and had a great view of the only US goal scored by Sporting Kansas City's own, Teal Bunbury. Here's my video of the goal and the semi-failed "Dougie" celebration.



And if you haven't seen it by now here is the video that has gone viral of the Spanish language broadcast's goal call. I'm sure we will see some rendition of that call at the new KC soccer stadium this summer.



The game ended in a 1-1 draw, but the atmosphere was better than any soccer game I've ever attended. The only negative to the evening was the concession stands didn't take credit/debit cards. Do they not want us to buy beer?!? I don't understand how any large stadiums can still only accept cash. Lines at the ATM machines were 40 deep JLV reported.

On Sunday I continued the futbol weekend and helped out with the LA Galaxy physicals. I didn't do his physical but I was in close proximity to Landon Donovan, one of the most prominent US players in history. It was crazy to stand a few feet away from a national hero from this last world cup. He was just relaxing and catching up with teammates and acting like a normal guy - the clip below was anything but normal.



One of my great memories was watching the game in a packed Ragtag theatre and becoming friends with 100+ strangers. Our experience was like many others gathered in bars and plazas across the country unified by national pride.



I still get chills watching that.