EPL: Manchester City at Aston Villa

This was a rare event where I had everything booked in advance – my train, my hotel and my game ticket. The Monday night football match in Birmingham was the main event on the schedule, so I always knew I would attend this game and no other event would be prioritized above it.

Train
I booked the train from London about one month ahead of time so it only cost £7 each way. It cost me £4 just to get from Lambeth North tube station to the Euston train station within London. Of course, that meant I had to take the actual train that I booked and did not have the freedom to just show up at the train station and take any train.

I arrived at the Euston train station around 11 am. I needed to eat anyway so I had enough time to eat breakfast before my train departed at 12:03 pm. The Britannia served breakfast in the train station.

Hotel and Lunch
As I wrote last week, I also booked the Britannia Hotel early – a single was only £28 pounds for the night as long as I paid in advance (£32 for the right to cancel). I was unable to check into the hotel when I arrived around 2:00 pm. My room would not be available for another hour. At this point I needed lunch, so I walked across the street to the Yard of Ale for some fish and chips and a pint. I arrived back at the hotel at 3 pm and took an unexpectedly long nap.

Obtaining Tickets
While I was at Manchester City last Monday I decided to buy an away ticket for last night’s match. An away ticket means I would sit with all the Manchester City fans in their confined space rather than sit with the Aston Villa fans and be able to wander around Villa Park. This turned out to be the correct decision as I ended up napping for 4.5 hours! I woke up shortly after 7:30 pm and raced to make the 8:00 pm start. Since I had no time to wait for the bus I ended up taking a taxi to Villa Park – cab cost was a reasonable £7.

The Game
The game was a low scoring affair compared to most of the Premiership matches I saw on this trip. This was the lowest scoring match and the only draw I saw as Manchester City and Aston Villa tied 1-1 – every other winning team had scored at least three goals.

Being an away fan did not have any real disadvantages except for the fact the lines at the one concession stand were incredibly long and they did not sell any beer in the section.

Transportation from the Game
Since I took a cab to the stadium, I decided to take the bus back to the city center. Taking buses to the city center is always easy because almost every bus runs there. The #7 bus took me back to where I needed to go.

Post Game Dining
By the time I was back from Villa Park most of the pubs were going to close in 30 minutes or so. Thus, once again, I chose to go back to the hotel.

EPL: Blackburn Rovers at Arsenal

My flight from Helsinki was on time and we landed shortly before 9:10 am. In order to meet the Arsenal boys for brunch I hopped on the underground from Heathrow and got off at the Charing Cross tube stop.

Pre Game Dining
Breakfast was scheduled for 10:45 am at the National Gallery Restaurant by Trafalgar Square. I arrived on time as more Arsenal boys showed up in the subsequent minutes. Breakfast was a much better experience than lunch two weeks ago.

Doubleheader Possibility
During breakfast we discussed the possibility of attending both the Arsenal and Chelsea matches that day. In fact, there were actually three EPL games in London on Sunday. West Ham United’s match was moved from Saturday to Sunday to accommodate Fulham’s Europa League match that I attended on Thursday night.

My original plan had been to attend both the Arsenal and Chelsea doubleheader on Sunday. However, multiple risks caused me to rethink this strategy.

1) Ticket Availability: Chelsea’s match was not just any match. It was versus Liverpool – a touch ticket to buy. By the time I arrived at Stamford Bridge there may not be any tickets available. Plus I already used up all of my “Chelsea luck” when I arrived late and got a free ticket to the match versus Tottenham.
2) Cost: Chelsea’s match was versus Liverpool and I did not have a ticket already. Todd, who I attended the Fulham game with Thursday night, stated that tickets on craiglist.org were hovering around £100 for the match. A price that was too high considering I was already attending the Arsenal match. If it was the only match of the day I would never let me price deter me.
3) Arsenal Boys: In my two EPL matches at the Emirates I was unable to go out after the game. This time I had all night to hang out. I decided I would have a much better time hanging out with the Arsenal boys after the game in one of the pubs by Emirates Stadium than going to the Chelsea match
4) Timing: As already stated the Arsenal match started at 1:30 pm – meaning the earliest the game would be over would be 3:15 pm. Chelsea’s match with Liverpool kicked off at 4 pm so there would be a maximum of 45 minutes to get from Arsenal to Chelsea. In order to get there I would need to either:

A) Find a cab immediately after the Arsenal match ended – estimated cost £25 to £30. But trying to find a taxi around Emirates Stadium as 60,000 people are leaving would not be easy.
B) Leave a few minutes early and hope the tube (describe route) would get you there on time.

Leaving Early
In either case, I would most likely need to leave the Arsenal match early or arrive to Chelsea late – a no-no for the Ultimate Sports Fan. While I agree with leaving games early, I do not agree with leaving one game early to get to another game. The reason I agree with leaving games early is that you may have a prior obligation such as dinner with the wife and/or family or another high priority engagement that does not allow you to attend the entire game. I feel attending and leaving early is more important than not attending at all.

In the end the final whistle was not blown until 3:25 pm – meaning there was only 35 minutes to get to Stamford Bridge – most likely an impossible feat.

The Game
Arsenal started out slowly, falling behind to Blackburn 1-0 in the 4th minute and 2-1 in the 30th minute. However, Arsenal scored five unanswered goals to defeat Blackburn 6-2 in the highest scoring game I have seen all trip. The fans were abuzz with the fact that Thierry Henry was in attendance at Emirates Stadium.

Post Game “Dining”
I use “dining” because as I wrote about my experience in Scotland is that I now understand why the Gastropub was invented in the United Kingdom. Some of the pubs around the stadiums do not have any food – only chips. This was the case Sunday afternoon as we went out after the game. The first pub we went to was The Bailey located at 81 Holloway Road. We watched the Chelsea/Liverpool match there before heading to The Compton Arm located at 4 Compton Ave. to meet the other Arsenal boys.

After staying in the pubs for a few hours, Big Chris and I took a cab back to his place. We went back to Kennington Tandoori – the Indian restaurant we ate at my first night of the trip. If you like Indian food, then be sure to dine at one of the many Indian restaurants in London.

Europa League: Basel at Fulham

One of the strange things about Europe is that someone you know from the United States is bound to be in the same location as you at some point. This was the case with my friend Todd San Jule. The last game Todd and I had attended together was the Seattle Seahawks at Green Bay Packers NFC divisional playoff game on January 12, 2008.

This time we agreed to meet for the Fulham and Basel Europa League match at Craven Cottage. In order to get to Craven Cottage I took the underground to the Putney Bridge stop. The stadium is a far walk from the tube stop.

Obtaining Tickets
My original plan had been to arrive at Craven Cottage early, hang out at a pub by the stadium and meet Todd when he got off work. This plan changed when Todd got off work earlier than he thought and I arrived later than I thought.

While Todd was waiting for me I told him to buy tickets for the match. I thought the tickets were £20 since I had looked at ticketmaster.co.uk a few days before the match. However, that was the non-day-of-game price. The price at the box office was £30. If I had known of the price increase I would have bought tickets from the ticket touts I passed on the way from the Putney Bridge tube stop to the stadium – but I did not know.

It turned out ok though since our seats were a few rows from the field, halfway between mid-field and the top of the penalty box.

Craven Cottage
Craven Cottage is a classic old English football ground. It is nestled up to a river and is small enough where you really feel apart of the action. In the lowest scoring game I had seen in over a week, Fulham defeated FC Basel 1-0.

Post Game
After the game Todd and I went to The King’s Arm located at 425 New Kings Rd. There are quite a few pubs in the area to try. After one pint I needed to head back to Big Chris’ house so I could pack and book my hotel for Helsinki, Finland.

Champions League: Wolfsburg at Manchester United

Rather than hang around downtown Manchester for a couple of hours before checking into my hostel, I decided to take the bus to Old Trafford to buy my ticket for the evening’s match. Even after seeing extra tickets in Glasgow on Tuesday night I still wanted to be sure I had my ticket for Manchester United.

Obtaining Tickets
Tickets were available for the match and I bought a ticket in the upper deck for £38. As I walked around the stadium looking for a restaurant to eat, there were a couple of guys who asked me if I needed an extra ticket. I should have figured there would be a secondary ticket market for Manchester United but I had already bought my ticket.

Lunch outside Old Trafford
I wanted to eat lunch before heading back to my hostel so I walked around Old Trafford to see what restaurants were in the area. I chose to eat at The Trafford which is a short walk from the stadium and has reasonable meal prices – for example, Fish & Chips was £4.

Back to the Hotel
At this point it was only 1:00 pm, so I took the bus back to my hostel to relax. I bought a day pass for the bus since the day pass was cheaper than even one round trip from downtown Manchester to Old Trafford. I was planning to make two round trips.

Pre Game
After hanging out in my hotel for a few hours, I took the bus back to Old Trafford. However, this time the area was completely different. The corner across the street from where I ate lunch was completely packed with fans hanging out before the game – where was this at Manchester City and Ibrox!

I believe the main reason so many people were hanging out on this corner was because of the beer store. The store had four commercial refrigerators (the kind you find at any convenience store) full of beer. For £2 you could buy a 16-ounce can and hang out on the corner – of course, the most expensive beer was Budweiser. Also, along this strip of stores was a bunch of English fast food restaurants but the main attraction was the beer convenience store.

Note: You can walk and drink your beer up until the police blockade but be sure to throw it out when you get there. No standing and drinking allowed.

Secondary Ticket Market
On the walk from the beer corner to Old Trafford were a few people holding an extra ticket in the air – meaning they had extra tickets. So for the second night in a row I could have bought a ticket for under face value but pulled the trigger too early.

Old Trafford
Old Trafford was a classic old stadium. However, I was in the upper deck meaning A) I had to walk up 170 steps and B) my view of the stadium was terrible.

First, as you enter the stair case to get to the upper deck there is a sign posted that reads “Access to the third tier stands involves climbing over 170 steps via 10 levels. Spectators who have vertigo or who have difficulty climbing are advised accordingly.” I’m not sure what stadium officials would do for you if you could not make the climb and I did not ask to find out. Second, my view of the game was fine, but the main reason I bought the upper deck ticket was so I could see Old Trafford as well and there was no view of the stadium from my seat.

The Game
The highlight of the night was Ryan Giggs becoming the ninth player in Manchester United history to score 150 goals for the team. His first goal with the team came in 1991. His 150th goal equalized the match at 1-1 after Wolfsburg took a 1-0 in the 55th minute. Michael Carrick scored the winning goal for United in the 78th minute as United defeated Wolfsburg 2-1.

Attendance at the match was 74,037 – by the far the largest crowd of any of the matches I have attended in England or probably will. A fan ran onto the field in the 2nd minute of the 2nd half for no apparent reason. Either most of the clubs have similar songs or it appeared that United had similar songs as Chelsea – only the words were different. Maybe the teams need to not only change the words but the tunes as well.

Post Game
For the third night in a row, I did not hang out in pubs after the game. Instead I did the same thing I had done on Monday night – buy a subway sandwich and chill in my hostel room.

Champions League: Sevilla at Rangers

In order to get to Ibrox Stadium, I took the subway from downtown Glasgow. I arrived at the Ibrox station around 4 pm even though the game did not start until 7:45 pm. My plan was to hang out at a few pubs in the neighborhood.

Obtaining Tickets
As soon as I got off the train a man selling Rangers souvenirs was offering to sell his two tickets to the match. His tickets were priced at £37 each. He would have sold me one for face value. Instead I chose to see what ticket prices were at the box office. I knew tickets were £40 each so wondered how he had gotten a £37 price point.

I went to the box office and asked if they had a student discount – the guy said no. Thus, I walked back to the souvenir man and offered him £30 – he said no. Thus, I walked back to the box office to buy a ticket. However, I saw a sign that said concessions (meaning less than 18 years old or over 65) that said £30. I asked the next guy at the ticket office if I could buy a concession seat and he said yes. I bought the ticket for £30.

Pre Game
The only pub I could find in the area was the Stadium Bar directly across the street from the Ibrox subway station. Once again, the pub did not serve any food so I had to wait until I got into the stadium to eat. In the pub I found out how the souvenir man received a £37 price point – it was included in a three game ticket package. The fan who gave me that information made fun of me when he saw I bought a concessions ticket. I figured he was just upset that I paid less than him.

Secondary Ticket Market
We actually could all have paid less than what we paid at the box office. For the first time since heading to Northern England, there were fans around the stadium with extra tickets. I counted at least 15-20 fans with extra tickets. Disappointed that I had not held out until game time, I was still happy to find out that fans were selling their extra tickets.

The Game
Sevilla crushed Rangers 4-1 as they scored a goal in the 50th, 64th 72nd and 74th minutes. It rained most of the match which left the pitch in similar shape to the two Villareal matches I attended. Each time a player cut water would jump up from the pitch. After Sevilla’s fourth goal (which gave them a 4-0 lead) fans started to leave.

Post Game
The line to get onto the train at the Ibrox subway stop was incredibly long after the game and with the rain coming down hard I walked back to the Stadium Bar to wait out the line. Around 15 minutes later the line had dispersed so I scampered into the subway stop to avoid the down pouring rain.

The pubs in downtown Scotland were closing down when I got back so I decided to head back to the Euro Hostel and go to sleep.

EPL: West Ham at Manchester City

After booking my hotels, I decided I needed some exercise plus I wanted to check ticket status for the Manchester City game I was planning to attend Monday night. I was in Manchester in February 2007 and remembered that the walk from the Manchester train station to the City of Manchester Stadium is 1.5 miles. I decided to run to the box office.

Obtaining Tickets to Manchester City
I arrived at the City of Manchester Stadium’s ticketing center and tickets were available for the night’s game. Also, since I was planning to travel to Birmingham for when Aston Villa hosted Manchester City I asked if they had an away ticket available for that match. I bought a ticket for both matches.

Manchester City requires you to have a ticket card regardless of whether you are a season ticket holder. I received a ticket card which would allow me entrance to the stadium and my “ticket stub” gave me an assigned seat. I am not sure how the secondary ticket market works for Manchester City. Either one does not exist or you need to buy an extra ticket from somebody who already has a card.

Lunch
On my run I noticed there were not many restaurants in the area around Manchester City’s stadium. Thus, I decided to eat at The Overstuffed Pizzeria – the pizza place in the Britannia Hotel. All pizzas were half price.

The Game
After taking a nap, I walked back to the City of Manchester Stadium in time for the game. It was my first Monday Night Football game – English style. Carlos Tevez scored two goals as he led Manchester City to a 3-1 win over West Ham. It was Tevez’s first goal against his former team. The win was Manchester City’s fifth win in six games and is their best start since 1961.

Post Game Dining
With pubs closing because of early closing hours in England, I grabbed a sandwich at Subway and went back my hotel to relax. I had just attended nine games in seven days in England and Scotland and was planning to attend one game per day for the next week in Scotland, England and Finland.

EPL: Wolverhampton at Sunderland

My entire day was planned for Sunday. I was taking a morning train from Edinburgh to Newcastle, taking the metro over to Sunderland, attending the Wolverhampton at Sunderland game at 4 pm, heading back to the Newcastle train station where I was taking the train to Manchester Sunday evening. The best part of the journey was that the train would only cost me one day on my BritRail pass. The worst part was that I was not sure if the conductor on the train would accept my rail pass from Edinburgh to Newcastle (I had only booked the English BritRail pass which does not include Scotland).

Train from Edinburgh to Newcastle
I took the 9:30 am train from Edinburgh to Newcastle Sunday morning. Again the train from Edinburgh to Newcastle has some of the most beautiful views in the world as it runs along the North Sea. My fear of the conductor charging me the one way fare from Edinburgh to Berwick-upon-Tweed were relieved when the woman checked my rail pass and moved along.

Newcastle Train Station
As was the case on Thursday, I had my luggage with me so I needed to check it at the train station. This time I needed to check my backpack as well since I would not have six hours of cricket to watch with my bags by my side. I was planning to wander around Sunderland.

After checking my bags I determined that the easiest route to Sunderland was via subway to the Stadium of Light station in Sunderland.

Obtaining Tickets
After about 30 minutes on the subway, I arrived at the Stadium of Light and walked to the ticketing center to find out the ticket cost. The cheapest seat was £22. They also had a £27 ticket. Rather than deal with scalpers, I decided to buy the £22 ticket ahead of time and go hang out in downtown Sunderland before the game.

Pre Game Dining
I decided it was quicker to walk to downtown Sunderland than go back and take the train. Once I got to the main corner of downtown Sunderland, I had a few choices of where to eat lunch and hang out. My choices were Yates’s Wine Lounge, The William Jameson or Sinatro’s. Yates’s Wine Lounge had the best food and drink specials so I chose that restaurant.

After lunch I walked back to the stadium where I went to the pub that was across the street – The Colliery Tavern. This place was overcrowded as the crowd spilled out into the grass that surrounded the pub.

The Game
Sunderland took a 2-0 lead on penalty kicks. Wolverhampton came back with two goals of their own at the 50th and 55th minute to tie the game 2-2. At this point it looked as though the game might by close but Sunderland scored three more goals before the end of the game to win 5-2.

In the 55th minute, Kevin Doyle scored a goal on an indirect free kick from within the penalty box about six yards away from the goal line. I was unaware this could happen in soccer but I do now.

After one of the goals, Sunderland players jumped over the railing into the stands to celebrate with the fans. As this was going on some fans came onto the pitch to celebrate as well and were immediately ejected from the stadium. For the rest of the game, fans were arguing with security over why the fans were ejected since the players came into the stands first.

Metro after the Game
Something I learned the hard way is that the metro does not stop at the St. James stop after the game. Probably because most fans would go to St. James to get on and beat the crowd getting on at Stadium of Light. It only stops at the Stadium of Light stop or the city center. Rather than walk to the Stadium of Light stop, I walked to the City Center in order to beat the crowd. However, the City Center stop was not a time saver. Subway personnel ran one train directly to the Stadium of Light stop and did not allow anyone from the City Center stop to get on. Since the city center is further than the Stadium of Light from the stadium, I would recommend waiting in the line at the Stadium of Light stop rather than heading to the city center.

Train to Manchester
I made it back to the Newcastle train station in time to take the 7:09 pm train to Manchester. I picked up my luggage, bought some Burger King and took a nap on my three hour voyage way to Manchester.

SPL: Hamilton at Hearts

As I thought, I would not be able to check into my hostel until later in the afternoon. This meant I would not “actually” check in until after the Edinburgh rugby match I planned to attend Saturday night.

Since the Hearts match versus Hamilton kicked off at 3 pm and I could not check into my hostel until 1 pm there was no time to wait until 1 pm and then head off to Tynecastle Stadium. I wanted to hang out in a pub before the match.

The guy at the front desk of the hostel said getting to Tynecastle Stadium was an easy but long walk. Since I had some time I decided to walk. However, I ended up walking towards Murrayfield since there were signs for that stadium and not Tynecastle Stadium.

Pre Game
The Roseburn Bar was on the corner in the direction of Murrayfield. I decided to stop in there for a snack and ask directions to Tynecastle Stadium. All the pub had to eat was a tiny pasty which cost £1 – a good deal but not a great meal. The servers at the pub pointed me in the correct direction for Tynecastle Stadium and I was on my way.

Obtaining Tickets
It was about a 15 minute walk to the Hearts stadium from Roseburn Bar. I first went to the box office to see how much tickets were for the match. Since the cheapest seat was £16, I bought a ticket from the ticketing center rather than try to find one from a ticket tout.

Pre Game Part 2
After buying my ticket I checked out both pubs directly in the area. One was Robertson’s Pub and the other was Tynecastle Arms. I preferred Tynecastle Arms since it seemed more like a pub you would expect to find in Scotland. Another thing to note is I now truly understood why the Gastropub was a “new” invention in the United Kingdom. The pubs do not serve any food! At the Roseburn Bar I had a tiny pasty that tasted fine but was more of a snack than a meal. The other pubs did not serve any food.

The Game
This was the first Scottish Premier League game I have attended. The stadium was much smaller than most of the English stadiums and only 13,025 people showed up. However, there was not a lack of excitement as Hearts scored two goals within two minutes in the second half and Hamilton scored a goal five minutes later.

The best part of the stadium (or worst part for some) was that there was no scoreboard at Tynecastle Stadium. Everyone needed to keep track of the score and the time themselves. No hard feat in soccer, but definitely peculiar.

Doubleheader Day in Edinburgh

One of the difficulties with planning a sports trip is trying to determine all of the possible sporting events that one could attend. This is why I always buy a local newspaper when I arrive in the country I am visiting.

My original plan for today was to attend the Premier League match between Hull City and Liverpool at Anfield. However, last night as I was sitting at The Hiding Place, I pulled out my fixtures for the week. While reviewing the league schedules, I realized there were two events I could attend in Edinburgh today – the Hearts Scottish Premier League soccer match and a rugby match between Leinster and Edinburgh at Murrayfield. I chose Edinburgh over Liverpool for multiple reasons:

1) I have never attended a Scottish Premier League match.
2) I have never attended a match at Murrayfield – home of Scottish rugby.
3) The train from Newcastle to Edinburgh was a short 90 minutes while the train to Liverpool was over 4 hours.
4) I wanted to attend the English Premier League match on Sunday in Sunderland meaning I needed to take the train back to Newcastle from wherever I was Saturday (90 minutes from Edinburgh vs. 4 hours from Liverpool)
5) I figured tickets two both events in Edinburgh would be cheaper than the one match at Anfield.

Thus after making this change of plans I needed to rebook my Manchester hotel for the weekend and book one night in a hostel in Edinburgh. First, rebooking my hotel in Manchester was easy since I had booked a cancelable room (always allow for cancellations in your reservations just in case). I changed the reservation from arriving on Saturday morning, September 26 to arriving on Sunday night, September 27. Second, booking a hostel in Edinburgh was easy as well but I was not sure on where I wanted to stay. I ended up booking the Edinburgh Backpackers hostel since 1) It was recommended in Let’s Go, 2) the hotels in Edinburgh were more expensive and 3) it was “ensuite” meaning there was a bathroom in the room and not down the hall.

Carling Cup: QPR at Chelsea

After visiting British Mick, I took the same bus (#295) I had on Sunday afternoon back to Stamford Bridge for Chelsea’s Carling Cup match against Queens Park Rangers (QPR). This time I left earlier so I would not be late for the match which probably meant I would need to pay for my ticket.

Obtaining Tickets
At first I thought I would check to see if tickets were available for the match at the main ticket office. However, when I approached the security guards at the box office they said the match was sold out unless you were a season ticket holder or member. I am not sure why Chelsea has this rule but it makes no sense to me. I was willing to pay for a ticket but they did not want to sell one to me. The rule was not going to keep me out of the match – it just keeps ticket prices higher on the secondary market since ticket touts know you have to buy through them rather than the team.

Instead I went to negotiate with the ticket touts along Fulham Rd. The first tout wanted £70. The second tout wanted £40. I could see there were more touts who had extra tickets so I walked up the entrance to the Fulham Broadway tube station since that is where I bought my ticket for the Arsenal at Chelsea match I attended last year on November 30, 2008. Most touts wanted £35 to £40 and the occasional tout wanted £60. I would ask what face value was and they all replied “It’s sold out to you.”

Next I found a fan trying to sell his two extra tickets to a tout. One rule of trying to buy tickets on the secondary market – ticket scalpers become angry when you get involved in their negotiation. In fact, it downright pisses them off. At this point, rather than worry about this rule, I butted into the negotiation with my usual statement – “I am going to the game and will pay more than what the tout is offering.” It is never much more but the fan with the extra tickets always listens. However, this time the tout (who the fan was negotiating with) was not pleased with my move. He started screaming “you are going to get us all nicked, do you want to get us all nicked?” Nicked is British slang for arrested.

Then I somehow got into only negotiating with him. After my move, he said he would only sell me a ticket for £100 – a tactic to threaten me. However, with multiple scalpers standing in the area I was ready to move on. I gave him a final offer of £25 which he did not accept initially (remember all these negotiations take place in the matter or minutes if not seconds). He asked for £30 which I said no to and began to move onto another ticket tout. He accepted my offer of £25.

This was one of my tougher negotiations for a game that was not sold out – the main reason being that Chelsea was not selling tickets on the day of the game. If Chelsea was selling tickets I would use their price of £19.50 as my negotiating leverage and force the ticket tout to sell for less than that (unless I was looking for a specific seat then my negotiating position is compromised).

Pre Game Dining
Since I bought my ticket 45 minutes before the match was scheduled to begin I thought I would grab a pint at one of the pubs outside of Stamford Bridge. However, the bars that were near the stadium were both completely packed and extremely hot (So-Bar) and for Chelsea supporters only (Café Brazil). Although since my ticket was in the Chelsea supporters section (Matthew Harding Lower) I was able to enter both pubs. However, rather than enter either pub, I decided to enter the stadium and bought one of the pint and pie meal deals Stamford Bridge offers.

The Game
My ticket for the match was different from where I normally sit in the upper deck. Instead, I was in the Chelsea supporters section four rows from the field, just left of the goal. To my dismay about a quarter of the upper deck was empty from the tickets Chelsea would not sell. Attendance at the match was 37,781 – 4,000 people less than the other two matches I have attended at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea defeated QPR 1-0 behind a 52nd minute goal by Salomon Kalou. Joe Cole, who set up the goal, played in the match after returning from an eight month break after rupturing his cruciate knee ligaments.

The most annoying part of sitting in the Chelsea supporters section was that they chanted “If you hate Tottenham stand up” the entire match and would stand for the next minute or so. This caused some fans in the section to start chanting “If you hate Tottenham sit down.” The chant must come from a historical dislike of Tottenham since Tottenham is not a threat to Chelsea anymore.

Post Game Train
After the game I took the tube immediately back to the Kennington area as not to be stuck in Chelsea after the game as I had been in Arsenal the night before. On the train ride back there were two girls and their father (Chelsea fans) who were drunker than most of the fans I see post game around Wrigley Field. They sang the entire way until I got off at Embankment to change to the Bakerloo line.

I met Big Chris at the Grand Union (a short walk south from the Lambeth North tube station) for a pint before heading back to his place to go to sleep to get up early. Big Chris and I discussed the possibility of me staying three more days at his place when I returned – Thursday, October 1, Sunday, October 4 (we were going to the Arsenal match together that day anyway) and Tuesday, October 6. He said that would be fine so I was set for my stays in London.

Carling Cup: West Brom at Arsenal

After booking my rooms for the next week, it was time to eat lunch as I had a few hours until the Arsenal Carling Cup match at Emirates Stadium. I walked a few blocks from Big Chris’ house and ended up at The Three Stags. I ordered the hamburger and a couple of pints before walking over to the Imperial War Museum located on Lambeth Road. To my surprise the admission was free so I spent a couple of hours catching up on my World War I, World Cup II and subsequent wars knowledge.

After the museum I walked back to Big Chris’ place to take an afternoon nap and get ready for the match. On Saturday afternoon, Timmie Hampton mentioned I should meet him and a couple other “Arsenal boys” at Pinchito Tapas – the same bar I met them at 10 months earlier for a Champions League match between Arsenal and Dynamo Kyiv.

The London Tube
I bought my day travel card for the tube (£5.60) and got on at Lambeth North. Pinchitos Tapas is located by the Old Street Tube Station so I took the Bakerloo line to Elephant & Castle and changed to the Northern line.

Pre Game Dining
I arrived at Pinchito Tapas (located at 322 Featherstone Street), a Basque tapas bar in Islington, around 5:30 pm and did not recognize anyone I was supposed to meet. So I waited and ordered some sangria. Around 6:15 pm, Timmie Hampton showed up – I had met him twice before. Once, at a restaurant watching Arsenal at Celtic in a Champions League playoff on August 18 and second, the past Saturday when we met for lunch at the St. Pancras Grand. We discussed what anyone would discuss who did not know each other well – work and football (more specifically Arsenal). Tim ordered a bottle of red wine. After another 30 minutes, Tim’s buddy Peter showed up.

At 7:10 pm, we had finished the first bottle of wine and I thought we would get on our way. The match kicked off at 7:45 pm. Instead Peter suggested we order another bottle. The second bottle was ordered and I figured we would just show up late. However, what I had not remembered from my prior visit was that the reason the Arsenal boys choose this bar is that it only takes 15 minutes from leaving the restaurant to getting to your seat – the plan is to take the Northern City Line from the Old Street tube station to Arsenal, which is part of the network rail line rather than the Northern Line. This train goes directly to Drayton Park – the closest train stop to Emirates Stadium.

We were done with the second bottle at 7:35 pm and off to the train we went. I was in my seat by 7:50 pm.

Obtaining Tickets
Since I thought we might be late to the match (which I was right), I bought my ticket after the Arsenal match on Saturday from the box office for £20. I thought all seats were supposed to be £10 but those were only for the lower level. The upper deck was all £20. This decision saved me valuable time rushing to the box office or trying to find a ticket Tuesday night since we were late. As we walked swiftly from the Drayton Park train station to the Emirates we passed a couple of ticket touts offering tickets. Arsenal does not include Carling Cup matches in their season ticket which allows the general population to buy tickets for the match at cheaper prices.

The gate I was supposed to enter had an extremely long line. However, the line that was actually long was for people who had bought tickets through Ticketmaster. Since I bought my ticket from the box office I could enter immediately.

The Game
The Carling Cup is the only tournament not included in a full season ticket for Arsenal. The reason being is that Arsene Wenger plays a junior team with an average age of 20 years old. A few seasons ago, Arsenal fans complained about paying so much money for tickets when the regular starters were not playing. Thus, Arsenal removed the games from the season ticket package and began charging only £10 or £20 for tickets.

There were some empty seats at the top of the stadium but the game was mostly full. The attendance was 56,962 which is 3,000 less than the other games I have attended.

Arsenal won 2-0 as Sanchez Watt scored in the 68th minute and Carlos Vela scored in the 76th. Jerome Thomas from West Brom was red carded in the 36th minute after a confrontation with Jack Wilshere.

At halftime I finally ate dinner since we did not end up ordering anything at Pinchito Tapas. Arsenal has a meal deal where you can buy a pie and a pint for 50 pence less than it would cost if bought separately. Also, remember you can buy beer during halftime of matches between England teams.

Post Game
After the game I met Timmie Hampton and Peter at the Public House on Islington Park St. As I arrived I met a new Arsenal boy, Mark, who I believe is the oldest of the bunch since he recently retired from the Royal Mail.

By the end of the evening, the tube had stopped running since we were out passed midnight. Since Tim and I were the only ones left, we hopped in a London cab back to Tim’s place and I figured out how to take the bus back to Waterloo Station from there. If you don’t want to get stuck taking the bus or a taxi for a long distance be sure to leave before the underground stops running.

Free Ticket to an EPL Match: Tottenham at Chelsea

After spending the afternoon at British Mick’s (who will now be referred to as London Mick) house, I left for the Chelsea match around 3:20 pm without a ticket (the match started at 4 pm). Of course, my bus was late and it took longer than I expected to get to Stamford Bridge. As was the case last time I would be late. However, last time I was concerned about whether I could get a ticket so I bought from a scalper early. This time I was determined to get a cheap ticket even if I was late. By the time I was outside the stadium it was 4:10 pm – not good when attending a local derby without a ticket.

Obtaining Tickets
Generally, with sold out games it is better to arrive early than late so you have the best opportunity to find a ticket from a season ticket holder or a scalper. By arriving late, the ticket may be sold to the best offer because they do not think anyone else will show up.

The first ticket broker I talked to wanted 250 pounds for one ticket – which, of course, is an absurd amount of money for a regular season game. Even though that was his first offer, he was so far out of my price range there was no reason to negotiate. I offered him 50 pounds and he turned me down. I then started to get concerned because I did not notice any other extra tickets. It was a match against Tottenham and anyone who had an extra ticket was probably already inside.

The next thing that happened was part skill and most definitely luck. Normally when I get a free ticket I look for an odd number of people. One person may have two tickets and three people may have four tickets – meaning they have one extra and will give it away since they do not know what else to do with it.

This time I saw two guys talking to security guards at what seemed to be a gate with tickets dangling. Since I was unsure what was going on, I ran over to ask them if they had an extra ticket in desperation (remember this all happens in the matter of seconds). They said they had an extra ticket but there was a catch – they had already entered the stadium on the ticket but were leaving to go somewhere else. The guy with the ticket asked the security guards if they could give me the ticket and would they let me in. A one-for-one swap, right? It makes complete sense to a fan – to a guard not allowed to let anyone re-enter a stadium (especially a different person) not so much. At that moment I started begging (no shame when given a free ticket to a Chelsea match) – “please, please, please, please, please let this happen.” And to my shock the guards let it! They made the guy hand me his ticket and let me in through the exit – not the entrance.

Timing of the Free Ticket
To my shock I was at the Chelsea – Tottenham match. For a match like that timing must be perfect. When getting free tickets to a Cubs or White Sox game timing is not as important since I believe there are quite a few people giving away tickets. However, when the game is sold out and you are late timing is the #1 priority. These steps needed to take place for the free ticket to occur:

1) I left about 15 minutes later than I wanted to from London Mick’s house.
2) I waited for about 15 minutes for the bus to arrive. I had considered taking a taxi but no taxi drove by the bus stop.
3) I got off the bus a few stops early since there was so much traffic on the road. I walked / ran to Stamford Bridge after that.
4) My instincts told me the guys leaving the stadium had an extra ticket and I ran over. You must always be aggressive when trying to get to a game. Note: These guys actually had two tickets. If the Ultimate Sports Wife had been with me she probably would have gotten in as well – although her presence probably would have affected the timing of our arrival which would have resulted in no tickets.

The Game
Chelsea defeated Tottenham convincingly 3-0 on goals by Ashley Cole (31st), Michael Ballack (57th) and Didier Drogba (62nd). The victory gave Chelsea a record 11 straight wins. However, Drogba exited the game in the 83rd minute due to a calf injury.

The main controversy of the match came in the 54th minute when Robbie Keane went down after a challenge from Ricardo Carvalho. Tottenham should have had a penalty kick but referee Howard Webb did not call a penalty.

Halftime
Once thing I did not mention was that the ticket I received stated that it was a suite seat. However, when I asked the ushers where my seat was they directed me to an actual seat. I figured it must have been a pre-game meal which was why the guys went for the meal but left for the match. What I figured out later was that I probably could have gone into the suite during halftime for dessert and drinks. Everyone in my section was gone during halftime so they must have gone into the suites.

EPL: Wigan at Arsenal

After spending a few weeks in Spain it was time for a weekend in London with the wife. If you are traveling to London and want to see a couple of soccer games then be sure to make the wife happy first – then attend the events. I booked two nights at the Andaz Liverpool Street that I found by going to tablethotels.com. Tablethotels.com recommends stylish hotels that the wife will love and will hopefully not cost a fortune.

The Andaz was about five hotels listed that were less than 150 pounds. The others cheaper hotels were further away and we wanted to stay in a central location. Also, since we were flying to London Saturday morning before the Arsenal match, I wanted to stay within a reasonable distance of the stadium just in case the plane was late. It also turned out that the Andaz was a Hyatt.

Pre Game Dining
We met the Arsenal boys – consisting of Hospitality Jim, Big Chris, Stevie White Hair, Timmie Hampton and Just Gary – for lunch at the St. Pancras Grand in the St. Pancras Train Station. Of course, they were drinking wine and champagne as we arrived at the champagne bar across from the restaurant.

Tim and Steve supposedly found the “deal of the day” which consisted of a two course meal with a half bottle of prosecco for 15 pounds. However, what we did not realize was that receiving our entrées would take forever. We ordered around 1:15 pm. At 2:15 pm we had only eaten our appetizers and the match started at 3 pm. After some firm conversations with the manager our meals arrived, we scarfed down our food and were off for the match.

Obtaining Tickets
As has occurred with the last two Arsenal matches I have attended, Hospitality Jim did not charge me for the ticket.

The Game
Arsenal defeated Wigan convincingly 4-0 as Thomas Vermaelen scored two goals in the 24th and 48th minute followed by Emmanuel Eboue’s goal in the 58th minute and Cesc Fabregas in the 89th.

Europa League: Levski Sofia at Villareal

For the second time in a week, I attended a soccer match at Villareal. Last Sunday was for a La Liga match. Last night was for Villareal’s opening match in the Europa League versus Levski Sofia.

Parking at Villareal
With the Ultimate Sports Wife with me and torrential rains falling, I dropped off Nicole at the box office before I parked on the street. As was the case Sunday, I parked a few blocks from the stadium.

Obtaining Tickets
Once again, I bought tickets in the visitors section for the match – 30 euros versus 40 euros in the Villareal section. Since it was raining, I did not want to buy tickets from a season ticket holder and risk sitting under the open skies. Also I figured if Mallorca’s fans did not travel on a Sunday, then Levski Sofia’s fans would not travel on a Thursday even for a Europa League match. My assumption was correct. However, there were more away fans at this match than Sunday’s match.

Pre Game Bar
Before the game, we made our way around to the visitor’s entrance and stopped in at Bar El Submarino De La Bruja – directly next to the visitor’s entrance. The rain stopped when we needed to enter the stadium.

Estadio El Madrigal
Estadio El Madrigal is nothing special – especially the visitors section. They have one concession stand to buy drinks and snacks (remember no alcoholic beverages sold in stadiums in Spain). The stadium is smaller than the Mestalla in Spain which is probably why their lowest ticket price is higher.

The Game
Once again it rained for most of the match but the players could pass the ball across the field without it stopping immediately. Villareal won their opening match of the Europa League 1-0. Sofia fans seemed happy for a 0-0 draw but Nilmar scored in the 72nd minute.

Spanish La Liga: Mallorca at Villareal

After taking a weekend off for World Cup qualifying matches, Spain’s first division was back in action this weekend. The closest match to where we are staying was in Villareal last night – a 2.5 hour drive from Benimassot.

Parking in Villareal
As with the other Spanish soccer matches I have attended, cars appeared to park anywhere around the stadium. However, this time there was not enough room on the street for cars to double park or enough room on the sidewalk for cars to park there. I parked on the street a few blocks from the stadium.

Obtaining Tickets
I arrived at Estadio el Madrigal about an hour before kickoff. There was nobody selling their extra tickets at that time, so I bought the cheapest ticket from the ticket office – 25 euros for a seat in the visitors section. The next price point was 50 euros which I thought was way too expensive.

My other option was to wait for a second ticket holder who had a season ticket holder card (similar to a credit card that allows the season ticket holder into all matches for the team) and buy their “extra” ticket. However, with this strategy you would need to enter the stadium with the season ticket holder, since there technically is no ticket, rather than enter the stadium on your own time.

Pre Game Dining
The area around Estadio el Madrigal is nothing special. There are a few bars visible from the stadium to buy a drink and some food. However, I found a better area than a smoked filled bar for pre-game dining – an open air area that has about 10 stands serving food and drinks. It appeared to have a better atmosphere.

Visitors Section
The “visiting” section (for those who are not familiar with European stadiums) is the section where the visiting team’s fans are allowed to sit. Visiting team’s fans buy tickets through their team and then are banned to one section of the opposing team’s stadium. The Europeans separate the home team fans and the visiting fans in order to avoid any conflicts that might occur if they were to sit together. It has its positives and negatives.

Yesterday, since the visiting team was Mallorca there were no visiting fans in the section – although there were enough police officers. During the first half of the game there were about 35-40 people sitting in the visitors section – almost a one to one ratio to the number of police in the section. It appeared everyone sitting in the section was a tourist that did not want to pay at least 50 euros to sit in the other sections.

The Weather
The best part of the visitor’s section at Villareal is that it is completely enclosed – meaning it has a roof and a fence around the entire area. The other parts of the stadium are not enclosed and a roof only covers part of each seating area.

At the start of the first half it was partly cloudy. However, as the half progressed you could hear thunder and see flashes of lightning approaching the stadium. This is where buying a ticket in the visitors section at Villareal had its perks.

By the end of the first half it was raining hard and thunder and lightning were hovering around the stadium. If this was an NFL game, I believe they would have delayed the game due to lightning. However, this was a La Liga match and play continued as scheduled.

Halftime is where the real excitement began – torrential down pours. It rained so hard that even though I was sitting 10 rows from the front of the section, it was still raining on me. I moved back about 10 rows to an area that was dry – technically indoors! Of course, I had left my jacket and umbrella in the car since when I arrived; it was only partly cloudy and warm.

Minutes before the second half began; the public address announcer stated that all fans could sit in the visitors section for the second half since it appeared there was no end in sight to the rain. Our peaceful section of 35-40 people now became a packed and rabid section of Villareal fans. I do not believe there was an empty seat in the area as fans were also standing everywhere. Of course, the torrential rains stopped just before the second half began, but the rains still came throughout the second half.

After the halftime rains, the pitch essentially became a puddle for the second half. Every time a player would take a step, a splash of water would appear from the field. Players who tried to pass the ball along the grass would gesture in frustration as the ball would stop about 3 feet from where they had tried to pass. I wondered if the referee would do anything but the game continued without delay.

The Game
Even though the pitch was completely water logged during the second half both teams managed to score. Villareal’s Giuseppe Rossi scored in the 53rd minute after Mallorca goalkeeper Dudu Aouate slipped (because of the puddles) in the penalty box leaving an open goal.

Mallorca’s Borja Valero equalized in the 74th minute with a free-kick 25 yards out. Villareal and Mallorca tied 1-1.

Spanish Segunda Division: Cadiz at Levante

After stage 7 of the Vuelta a Espana was over, I met Nicole at the El Corte Ingles. Rather than drive to Valencia’s city center, I thought we should check out the area surrounding Levante’s home stadium – Estadio Ciudad de Valencia. However, there was not much in terms of restaurants so we drove back to the city center.

Pre Game Dining
Last Sunday, before the Valencia football match, we spotted a couple of pintxo restaurants opening as we were leaving for the Mestalla. Thus, Nicole wanted to try them out this week. We thought we would try both of them since pintxo’s are basically tapas – meaning you can eat a few at one restaurant and a few at another.

1) The first restaurant we tried was Sagardi Euskal Taberna – located at San Vicente Martir, 6. The restaurant was more upscale and was a pleasant dining experience. Pintxos cost 1.80 euros each.
2) The second pintxo restaurant we tried was about one block towards the Cathedral called La Taberna de la Reina – located on the Plaza de la Reina. This place was not as nice and neither were the pintxos they were providing – of course, the pintxos were slightly cheaper – 1.20 to 1.55 euros.

Pre Game Transportation
As stated earlier, Nicole wanted to shop in Valencia’s city center rather than watch a second division soccer match. Since Nicole and I had already parked our car in a public parking lot, I decided to take a cab rather than move the car and try to park the car on a sidewalk or in the middle of the street at the soccer match. The cab only cost 6 euros from the city center to the stadium.

Obtaining Tickets
I walked to the ticket office to find out the cost of the cheapest ticket. They did not have their prices posted so when I asked at the ticket window they said 20 euros. With a high price point, I decided to talk to the guys who had approached me wanting to sell their extra tickets. I talked to one of them and he said he had a face value 40 euro ticket for 30 euros (I had no idea if that was true since the ticket did not have a price on it). I told him I would only spend 10 euros – a price he balked at. Of course, he dropped from 30 euros to 25 euros to 15 euros to, finally, 10 euros. I bought the ticket and entered the first gate I could find as the ticket did state, “INVITACION. PROHIBIDA SU VENTA” – meaning “Invitation. Prohibits your selling.” Not sure what that meant but I entered the Levante supporter’s area and sat in a relatively empty section.

The Game
There is not much to mention about Estadio Ciudad de Valencia. The stadium is old, run down and there were temporary concession stands setup to sell drinks and snacks – similar to some other stadiums I have been to in Europe.

D. Carril Freire gave Levante a 1-0 lead in the 32nd minute. E. Moruno equalized for Cadiz in the 68th minute and the game ended in a 1-1 tie.

Post Game Transportation
After the game I could not find a cab outside of the stadium. Thus, I walked to the main street where I was dropped off (Avenida Alfahuir) to see if cabs were driving (and hopefully waiting). There weren’t any. I walked a couple of blocks towards the city centre figuring I would find a cab as I got closer to the city centre and found a metro (tram) stop. I figured whichever showed up first (the tram or a taxi) would get me back to the city center to meet Nicole. The tram came first and I took Linea 6 to Beniclamet, transferred to Linea 3 and took that train to Colon – the stop by the city center.

Copa del Rey Round 2: Villajoyosa at Alcoyano

With a limited number of sporting events in the region, I chose to attend the Copa del Rey second round match between two Segunda Division B teams (Spain’s Third Division) – CD Alcoyano and Villajoyosa C.F. Last year, Villajoyosa was in the Tercera Division (Spain’s Fourth Division), but was promoted to the next level this after they won the division last year.

I chose to attend this match because, 1) Alcoy is the closest city to where Nicole and I are staying in Spain (about a 30 minute drive) and 2) the match was apart of the Copa del Rey rather than a Segunda Division B match. Teams such as Real Madrid and Barcelona will compete in the Copa del Rey in future rounds.

Parking
I arrived at the Campo del Collao about 15 minutes before the schedule 9 pm kickoff. I found a parking lot where, as was the case in Valencia, everyone seemed to just “squeeze” in. However, they made sure cars could leave early by leaving room. This lot was too tight for me to park in so I ended up parking on the sidewalk outside of this parking lot – I figured since other cars were parking on the sidewalk it was fine for me as well.

Obtaining Tickets
As with any minor league baseball or hockey game in the United States, there generally is no secondary ticket market. Thus, I did not even look for an extra ticket last night. I knew ticket prices ranged from 10 to 20 euros since I looked at the Alcoyano website earlier in the day. The first ticket window only sold 20 euro tickets for sideline seats. Instead, I walked to the next ticket window and bought a 10 euro seat behind the goal.

The Game
The stadium reminded me of a small minor league baseball stadium in the United States. There were a lot of sponsorships around the stadium and it only sat 5,000 fans.

Alcoyano scored a goal early in the first half and a second goal halfway through the second half to defeat Villajoyosa 2-0 and advance to the third round of the Copa del Rey.

Spanish La Liga: Sevilla at Valencia

The Ultimate Sports Wife and I decided to spend the afternoon touring Valencia since we had decided to watch Valencia square off against Sevilla at 7 pm on La Liga’s opening weekend.

Obtaining Tickets
I had already bought two tickets to Sunday’s match on Thursday night so we would not have to deal with buying tickets on Sunday evening. We may have been able to beat the 20 euros ticket price at the window but taking our time to get to Estadio Mestalla was worth the peace of mind for not much extra money.

Parking Part 1
Since it was a Sunday and we wanted to tour Valencia’s City Centre, I decided to park on a street in between the City Centre and the stadium. We found a nice area where other cars were parked and appeared to be free. It was (however, read parking parts 2 & 3).

Valencia City Centre
We started walking around Valencia at 3 pm. Something to note about Valencia during August and on a Sunday is that everything is closed. There was not one store open between where we parked and Valencia’s main Cathedral. Of course this was to the Ultimate Sports Wife’s dismay.

However, as we approached the main tourist area by the Plaza de la Virgen where the Basilica de la Virgen de los Desamparados (which was closed) and the Cathedral are located, the restaurants and stores were opened. Phew! Of course, the only tourist attraction open in the area was the Cathedral but after seeing many Cathedrals in Europe for free we chose not to pay the 4 euros to see this one. Even the Mercado Central, one of the largest markets in Europe, was closed until September 2.

Pre Game Dining
I was concerned that the Ultimate Sports Wife would not like the restaurants (also known as bars) around the stadium. So rather than risk eating by the stadium, we ate at Cerveseria Manyans. The restaurant was not located in the main tourist area by the Cathedral but rather on a side street a few blocks south of the Plaza de la Reina. We ate early for Spaniards at 5 pm, but since we were hungry and had a long drive back after the game, the timing made perfect sense for us.

Parking Part 2
With our tickets already in hand, we decided to drop off some items in our car and be sure we had not received a parking ticket, or even worse towed. We did not receive a ticket, but to our surprise, we had a car parked perpendicular right behind us! Since we did not need to move the car at the time, we figured we would go to the match and hope the car was moved by the time we got back – although a man was ready to move the car for us if we needed to leave at that time.

As we approached the stadium, what I had not realized when I attended the match on Thursday night was that there are no parking regulations during a Valencia football match. Cars were parked bumper to bumper on the sidewalk, on the street and a second row on the street – blocking in all of the cars that had parked “legally” on the street. So much for worrying about whether we had received a parking ticket.

The Match
With the pitch on Sunday evening just as bad as it had been on Thursday evening, Valencia scored two goals in the second half to defeat Sevilla 2-0. Sevilla was reduced to 10 men during stoppage time of the first half as Fredi Kanoute was shown the red card (after receiving one yellow card in the 22nd minute and one yellow in stoppage time). Valencia immediately took advantage of their advantage by scoring in the second minute of the second half. Pablo Hernandez ensured Valencia won by scoring the second and decisive goal in the 79th minute.

Parking Part 3
Just in case you were wondering, when we got back to the car, the car that had parked behind us was gone as was the man who offered to move the car for us. There were many other cars still parked in the middle of the street but we backed our car out of its parking place and drove back to Benimassot.

Europa League Play-off: Stabaek at Valencia

One part of Spanish soccer I do like is the late start times of soccer matches. La Liga’s weekly Saturday night contest begins at 10 pm (meaning it ends close to midnight) – no sporting event in the United States has that scheduled start time. Last season, I remember thinking it was crazy that Game 2 of the NLDS between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs had an 8:37 pm start time at Wrigley Field.

Thus, I should not have been surprised when the Europa League Play-off match hosted by Valencia had a scheduled start time of 9:30 pm. I left Benimassot at 6:30 pm and by the time I found the Mestalla and parked the car it was 8:30 pm.

Parking at the Mestalla
The Mestalla is similar to Wrigley Field in that the stadium is in the middle of the city. There is no parking lot in the immediate vicinity as apartments, restaurants and bars surround the stadium. I found a parking garage (Garaje Primado Reig) within a few blocks of the stadium which cost .0329 cents per minute – a strange cost metric for a public parking lot but at less than 2 euros per hour I was not going to complain.

Obtaining Tickets
After walking the few blocks to the stadium, I headed straight for the ticket office. I remembered many extra tickets around the box office when attending games at Real Madrid and Barcelona in December 2004. As I had thought, scalpers and fans had extra tickets. However, with the cheapest seat from the ticket office costing 10 euros there was no reason to buy from a scalper unless they could beat the 10 euro price point. They could not so I bought a seat in the upper deck for 10 euros.

The Match
With Valencia already ahead in aggregate 3-0 from their match at Stabaek, Valencia did not have to worry about not advancing to the group stage of the Europa League. In convincing fashion Valencia won the second match 4-1 (7-1 on aggregate).

Miku scored three goals for Valencia – one in the 28th, 29th and 80th minute while Nikola Zigic scored the other goal for Valencia. Stabaek’s Pontus Farnerud made the match close towards the end of the first half as he scored at the 36th minute to cut Valencia’s lead to 2-1. However, Valencia was too much for Stabaek in the end.

Estadio Mestalla
The upper deck at the Mestalla is one of the steepest I have ever seen. I cannot think of another stadium that compares. Other stadiums would probably have three rows in the same height that the Mestalla has two rows.

The pitch at the Mestalla was a complete mess. It appeared to be a dirt pitch with patches of grass around the field. The pitch broke up every time a player would try to cut. At halftime the stadium crew came out to fix the divots created by the players in the first half. Also, they watered at halftime with the sprinkler system. They did that before the game as well, which at the time I thought was odd but finally realized it was necessary.

Game #3 of 3: Barcelona vs. Chivas de Guadalajara

The main event of the soccer doubleheader was between FC Barcelona and Chivas Guadalajara – a match that I attended at Soldier Field on August 3 last year. With Leo Messi and Thierry Henry playing for Barcelona, the first half of the game was exciting even though neither team scored a goal. After all of the star players were removed in the second half both teams scored a goal – Barcelona in the 49th minute and Chivas in the 63rd minute.

During the second half the Mexican fans lighted flares, which I do not believe I have never seen in a U.S. stadium, but have seen plenty of times in European soccer stadiums.

Tripleheader Saturday in San Francisco

Today is a complicated day for three sporting events – at least two of them are at the same venue. The wife and my original reason for being in San Francisco is for Nicole’s sociology conference – the American Sociological Association’s annual event. She is giving a presentation scheduled for 4:30 pm this afternoon (Saturday) and to be a good husband I thought I would attend.

With the San Francisco Giants game starting at 1:05 pm and a soccer doubleheader at Candlestick Park (Game 1 is between the San Jose Earthquakes and the Columbus Crew and Game 2 is between FC Barcelona and Chivas de Guadalajara) starting at 5:30 pm, I need perfect timing in order to see the end of the Giants game and make the doubleheader on time.

There are a couple issues that could occur:

1) I am not sure when Nicole is presenting or how long she will present. The session is scheduled from 4:30 to 6:10 pm. If she presents late I can make the MLS game by halftime (in order for the game to “count,” I need to attend only half the game with extenuating circumstances – which today falls under).

2) The Giants game could go to extra innings. As stated in #1, I am not entirely sure when Nicole is presenting. Extra innings works if she presents later in the session, but then I will miss the beginning of the MLS game.

Next part I forgot to mention – my parents are attending the soccer doubleheader and coming to the presentation. They need to pick me up from the Giants game, drive to the hotel where the conference is located, find parking, watch the presentation intently, get back to the car and drive to Candlestick Park.

Ideal situation – Nicole presents immediately at 4:30 pm for about 20 minutes and we immediately leave for the soccer doubleheader.

CONCACAF Gold Cup: Costa Rica vs. Mexico

Game 2 of the doubleheader started at 9 pm and what else could you ask for when sitting in a luxury box at Soldier Field with unlimited food and drinks – extra time and penalty kicks to make the night last as long as possible.

After the hour long break between matches, Liam and I walked back into the luxury box and to our surprise a Soldier Field employee asked to see our tickets. I guess we did not “look” like we were supposed to be in the box with the CONCACAF employees and guests.

The Match
At one point during the match when Costa Rica took a corner kick, the Mexican fans were throwing beverages from the stands on the Costa Rican player. I have heard that those “beverages” may not actually be beer or soda but cups full of urine – so watch yourself when drinks start flying at a Mexican soccer match. The PA addressed the crowd and stated that fans should “respect players on the field.”

At first we thought we would be heading into extra time scoreless. The match was 0-0 when Guillermo Franco sent the ball into the net and the mainly Mexican crowd into a frenzy at the 88th minute. I thought that was it and we would head home in a couple of minutes. However, Costa Rica’s Froylan Ledezma hit the equalizer in injury time of the second half and sent the match to extra time tied at one goal apiece.

After 30 minutes of extra time, the game went to penalties to decide the winner. Each Mexican player made their penalty shot as did each Costa Rican until Ledezma’s penalty kick was saved by Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa and sent Mexico to the final.

Extra time would not have been necessary if Mexico’s Miguel Sabah had not missed a penalty kick in the 58th minute.

CONCACAF Gold Cup: Honduras vs. USA

After witnessing history at U.S. Cellular Field Thursday afternoon, I headed to Soldier Field to watch the Gold Cup doubleheader Thursday evening. As I wrote yesterday, my friend Liam called me with luxury box tickets for the event – the first time I would sit in a luxury box at Soldier Field.

Pre Game
I took the train back from U.S. Cellular Field to the Roosevelt red line stop where I was to meet Liam. As I walked by Sam’s Wines and Liquors, I noticed they had a wine tasting bar where I could sit, wait and watch highlights of Mark Buehrle’s perfect game. I had not noticed the bar before when walking to Soldier Field for Chicago Bears games.

Soldier Field Luxury Box
We were in one of the CONCACAF luxury boxes so we were towards mid-field. The box came with everything one would expect – unlimited food and drinks.

The Game
Using a junior team, the United States defeated Honduras 2-0 in the first semi-final of the evening.

Tripleheader Thursday in Chicago

As I wrote yesterday, one of my favorite sporting event start times are weekday afternoon games. Today I am planning to combine a weekday afternoon baseball game with a Gold Cup soccer doubleheader at Soldier Field. The Chicago White Sox are scheduled to play the Tampa Bay Rays at 1:05 pm. This is the first time I will have seen the Rays play at U.S. Cellular Field since April 23, 2004.

At 6 pm the United States plays Honduras in the first game of the doubleheader followed by Mexico and Costa Rica in the second game. This morning, my friend, Liam, called and invited me to a luxury box for the Gold Cup doubleheader. Since I was already planning to attend, I, of course, said yes. My original plan was to buy tickets outside of Soldier Field from a fan that had extras or from a scalper. This is another reason not to buy tickets ahead of time – you never know when you might get a last minute invite.

Game #2: Cracovia Krakow vs. CF Rayados de Monterrey

After the Cubs game, I drove to Toyota Park to watch the friendly match between Cracovia Krakow (of Poland’s Ekstraklasa) and CF Rayados de Monterrey (of Mexico’s Primera División de México).

Obtaining Tickets
Tickets for the match ranged between $25 and $45 at the box office which I considered expensive. I ended up paying $15 for a “comp” ticket with a face value of $0. But I still saved $10 than buying the ticket at the box office.

The Game
Monterrey defeated Krakow 2-0 after scoring goals in the 47th and 71st minute.

SuperLiga: Tigres UANL at Chicago Fire

I was the first person to my car in the U.S. Cellular Field parking lot and the race was on. Could I get to Toyota Park, buy a ticket and get into the stadium within 20 minutes? Since both U.S. Cellular Field and Toyota Park are relatively close to Chicago’s Interstate-55 it was definitely possible.

Parking and Obtaining Tickets
I was at the Toyota Park parking lot at 6:55 pm (luckily for me there was no Saturday evening Chicago traffic) and used my media parking pass to park quickly. Since Jamie Trecker, Fox Sports’ senior soccer writer, told me he had requested a media credential for me after we attended the Chicago Fire home opener back on April 5, I was hoping a credential would be waiting for me at media gate. The woman at the gate could not find my credential (also snickering and doubting I would have a credential since I was wearing a Cubs shirt and hat), but given the lack of press that had shown up for the game, she handed me a generic media pass with press box access only. I was grateful and in the stadium just a few minutes after the opening kickoff.

The Game
Toyota Park was mainly full of Mexican fans cheering for Tigres UANL. Entering the game, the Fire knew if they lost by less than two goals they would advance to the SuperLiga semifinals on July 15.

Tigres used a team mainly of reserves and youth club players to defeat the Fire 2-1. Tigres midfielder Armando Pulido scored twice to give the Tigres a 2-0 lead at halftime. It was not until Cuauhtemoc Blanco scored a penalty kick goal at the 85th minute that the Fire knew they would advance to the semifinals.

SuperLiga 2009
This was the second SuperLiga tournament I have attended – the first coming in 2007 when I attended the semifinal and final at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA.

World Cup Qualifying: Honduras at USA

Rather than squeeze in the White Sox game (first pitch 3:05 pm) in between the two international contests, we chose to head to the restaurants by Soldier Field. After taking our time leaving Toyota Park, we parked in a lot between S. Wabash Ave. and S. Michigan Ave. on 14th St. for $25 around 4 pm – giving us plenty of time before the 7:15 pm kickoff.

While searching for parking, we saw the American Outlaws partying outside of Weather Mark Tavern – a bar the Ultimate Sports Wife and I have occasionally frequented after Chicago Bears games. By the time we parked and walked over the supporters group had already left for Soldier Field.

Pre Game Dining
Instead of starting at Weather Mark Tavern, we chose to go to the Irish pub Grace O’Malley’s. We sat in the restaurant area and order some drinks and appetizers. After Grace O’Malley’s, we went back to Weather Mark Tavern. As is the case with Bears games, Weather Mark Tavern has cheaper prices and is less crowded than Grace O’Malley’s so unless you have a craving for Irish beer and food, I would recommend going to Weather Mark Tavern – only one block south on Michigan Ave. (1503 S. Michigan Ave. vs. 1416 S. Michigan Ave.).

Walking from Michigan Ave. to Soldier Field
At 6:15 pm, we started the lengthy walk to Soldier Field. From Weather Mark Tavern, you either need to cross the train tracks by walking north 3 blocks to Roosevelt Rd. or south 3 blocks to 18th St. We chose to walk to 18th St. since many ticket scalpers congregate by the tunnel south of Soldier Field. Also, in my opinion it is a much further walk crossing on Roosevelt Rd. since you must walk even further north once you get into Grant Park.

As we were walking to Solder Field we could hear a lot of cheering coming from the stadium as if the game had already started. We were wondering what the heck was going on.

Obtaining Tickets
After we made it across the tracks, the first scalper (also could have been a fan with extra tickets) we talked to had three tickets together (face value $25). I offered him $40 for all three (about ½ price) and he declined my offer. As we walked away, he asked for $50 for all three and I said no. He then accepted the $40 for all three tickets. Our tickets were directly behind the goal on the south end zone. Much better than the $40 tickets U.S. Soccer was selling at the box office at the top of section 429.

The Game
We arrived in our seats about 45 minutes early and realized very quickly we were amongst the minority. The entire stadium (or 80% of the crowd) appeared to be Honduras fans that were all cheering before the game with no action on the field. We now understood why were heard all the noise coming from Soldier Field as we were crossing the train tracks.

The US defeated Honduras 2-1 in the United States first come from behind win in a world cup qualifier since May 15, 1985. Landon Donovan set a U.S. record by scoring his 11th goal in World Cup Qualifying.

International Day in Chicago

Today is International sporting event day in Chicago. At 1 pm, USA Rugby hosts Wales at Toyota Park in a friendly. At 7:15 pm, USA Soccer hosts Honduras in the first World Cup Qualifier hosted at Soldier Field. I am planning to attend both games with Blackhawks Jim and his son Carl. The Ultimate Sports Wife and Blackhawks Jim’s wife and daughter are planning to attend the rugby match.

Bundesliga: Arminia Bielefeld at Borussia Mönchengladbach

We went back to Dusseldorf’s Altstadt area before taking the train to Mönchengladbach for our third and final soccer match. While in Altstadt we saw Arminia Bielefeld fans wandering the area. Since Mönchengladbach is not mentioned in the guide books it probably makes sense to stay in Dusseldorf if planning to attend a Borussia Mönchengladbach match.

My brother, being tired of German food and multiple sausages, decided we should eat at the Italian restaurant across the way from Uerige – Ristorante La Grappa. While eating lunch, we considered the idea of attending the Dusseldorf Giants basketball game in Germany’s top basketball division. However, we decided it would be better to attend the soccer match in Monchengladbach.

The train to Mönchengladbach took about 30 minutes from Dusseldorf. When we arrived at the Mönchengladbach train station, we followed the crowd to the square just outside the train station where the fans walked to their favorite pub. We ended up at the Humboldt-Schanke pub which was full of Borussia supporters.

After awhile, we decided to take the bus to the stadium since we still needed to purchase tickets to the match (before flying to Germany, I realized the match would not be sold out which would give us the option of not attending if we chose to do so). The bus to the stadium took about 15 – 20 minutes.

Obtaining Tickets
There were some extra tickets being sold by scalpers outside the stadium. However, their prices were high and rather than negotiating with a German in poor English we chose to buy tickets from the box office for 35 Euros each. All tickets cheaper than that were already sold out with the exception of tickets in the visiting team’s section – Arminia Bielefeld. Tickets in their section were 13 Euros to stand or 25 Euros to sit. We decided it would be safer to sit in the Borussia section.

The Game
Just as was the case with LTU Arena in Dusseldorf, we needed to pay an extra Euro for our cups at Borussia Park.

Mönchengladbach took an early 1-0 in the 12th minute of play, but Bielefeld equalized in the 32nd minute. The game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Post Game
After the game we took the train back to Dusseldorf and ended up at Uerige for the second night in a row.

Bundesliga: Karlsruher SC at Bayer Leverkusen

We woke up early Saturday morning in order to take the train from Heidelberg to Dusseldorf. Bayer Leverkusen was playing in Dusseldorf for the second half of the season because they were re-building their stadium in Leverkusen. We had chosen to attend the Bayer Leverkusen match rather than the Borussia Dortmund match for several reasons:

1) Borussia Dortmund was sold out and Bayer Leverkusen was not.
2) Dortmund was further away than staying in Dusseldorf.
3) We had a friends and family certificate to stay at Marriott hotels. Dusseldorf has a Renaissance Hotel while Dortmund has none.

Obtaining Tickets
I called Leverkusen to purchase tickets before flying to Germany. When I tried to purchase the tickets, the ticket office told me they had reserved 2 tickets for me and that I would pay for the tickets when I picked them up at the stadium. However, when we picked up the tickets, they said we did not owe anything. I am not sure where the confusion was, but we ended up receiving free tickets.

LTU Arena and the Game
We did not find any restaurants or pubs around LTU Arena. It was basically a stadium on the outskirts of town. Once again, we could purchase beer in the stadium and drink at our seats. However, LTU Arena charged one Euro for each cup. Fans needed to return their cup in order to receive the Euro back.

Karlsruher defeated Bayer Leverkusen on a goal in the 72nd minute by Sebastian Langkamp.

Post Game Dining
After the game we took the subway back to Dusseldorf’s Altstadt (“Old Town”). We walked into the main part of the area and found an outdoor beer garden – Uerige. Uerige has been brewing beer since 1862. Servers walk by each table with about 20 beers on their tray. When the pass you ask for the number of beers you want and pay the server – quick and easy. No trip to Dusseldorf is complete without a stop at Uerige.

After a few beers, we decided to eat a German dinner at Alstadt Restaurant – a short walk from Uerige. We did not find many actual German restaurants in the area which is why we chose the restaurant we did.

Bundesliga: Hertha BSC at 1899 Hoffenheim

After spending the first day in Frankfurt, we took the train from Frankfurt to Heidelburg on Friday morning with the plan to attend the Bundesliga match between Hertha Berlin and 1899 Hoffenheim.

Any trip to Heidelberg should include a tour of the Old Town, Heidelberg Castle and the University of Heidelberg (the home of Sociology). We spent Friday afternoon touring the city after the Marriott would not allow us to check in early.

Obtaining Tickets
While still in Chicago, I did research on how to purchase tickets for the Bundesliga matches we planned to attend. I discovered that the match in Hoffenheim sold out in 90 minutes and that tickets were selling for two to three times face value on eBay. Rather than try to scalp tickets in German, I chose to take the guarantee and bought two tickets for 129 Euros from eBay Germany (I used babelfish.yahoo.com to translate the listing).

Train
We knew it would take about 30 to 45 minutes on the train to Hoffenheim. We bought a train ticket at the Heidelberg train station. To our dismay, we found out from the conductor that our tickets to the match acted as our train ticket as well. Oh well. At least we did not buy a round trip ticket.

The conductor also informed us that we needed to take the train to Sinsheim (not Hoffenheim) and that we would take a bus to Rhein-Neckar-Arena which hosted its first Bundesliga match only three months earlier on January 31, 2009.

Pre Game Dining
We arrived at the Sinsheim train station around 6 pm. Rather than hop on the shuttle right away we went to the Zum Bahnhof pub located right across from the train station. We sat inside the pub as we watched the 1899 Hoffenheim supporters sing outside.

We took the bus as the 7 pm train arrived. After the bus dropped us off, we stopped at a temporary concession stand that served beer and sausage. After eating we headed to the stadium.

I did not see anyone obvious selling tickets to the match, so it appeared my decision to buy tickets from eBay before flying over was a good one.

Concessions
To my surprise, you could buy beer inside the stadium and sit in your seat while drinking the beer. In England you can buy beer but have to drink it in the concourse. European countries all seem to have their own rules. Beer inside the stadium cost 3.10 Euro.

In order to purchase anything from the concession stand, you had to put money on a “concessions card.” Then you could purchase items from the concessions stand with the card only – no cash. This was similar to when my brother and I attended an NFL Europa game at Amsterdam ArenA.

The Game
Hertha defeated 1899 1-0 on a goal by Patrick Ebert in the 40th minute.

Post Game
Instead of taking the bus back to the train station, we followed the crowd and walked back. The walk took about 10-15 minutes. We were one of the last few to get on the train as we headed back to Heidelberg.

International Weekend Trip

Back in late March, my brother (who lives in San Francisco) and I decided we should take a weekend trip somewhere. At the time, airfares to fly overseas were pretty inexpensive and we narrowed our list down to three choices: 1) Australia, 2) Tokyo, or 3) Germany

We determined that Australia was too far to fly for a long weekend, even though round trip airfares to Melbourne were only $700 from San Francisco and $850 from Chicago – unheard of low fares.

Tokyo was similarly priced to Australia but not nearly as far. We almost chose Tokyo until we found a $440 roundtrip airfare from Chicago to Frankfurt and only $470 from San Francisco to Frankfurt. With those fares costing about half as much, Germany was the winner.

The Sporting Events
Before booking the trip to Germany, I already knew of sporting events we would attend no matter the location. With Germany, the plan was to attend three Bundesliga matches within a reasonable distance of Frankfurt – one Friday night, one Saturday afternoon and one Sunday evening.

Primera División: UAG Tecos at Pachuca

To my disappointment, the Primera Division did not schedule any soccer matches for the weekend in Mexico City. Three teams could have been home (America, Cruz Azul, or Pumas UNAM), but none were. The next best option was to travel to Pachuca which is 88 kilometers from Mexico City.

On Friday night I had negotiated with the cab driver to drive me to Pachuca – about a 90 minute drive from Mexico City accounting for some traffic. Before the soccer match Saturday night, I could not figure out how to purchase tickets to Pachuca before the match. This made me a little hesitant to pay the cab 1700 pesos for the roundtrip, but I figured tickets would be available at the stadium since most Mexican soccer matches do not sell out.

Possible Pre Game Dining
One option for eating while driving to Pachuca is to stop at one of the barbacoa tents on the side of the road. Even though they have seating for 20-30 people, there is nobody in the tents and there are approximately 20-30 places to eat on the drive. The cab driver wanted to stop along the way, but I said no since the tents seemed shady and I would prefer to eat at the stadium.

Obtaining Tickets
We arrived at Estadio Miguel Hidalgo around 5:30 pm for the 7:00 pm start time. I walked up to the ticket window and bought a ticket for 100 pesos. The stadium only had general admission seats except for one section at midfield. After buying my ticket, I asked the cab driver if he also wanted to attend the match (thinking he would have to buy his own ticket) rather than wait for me outside the stadium. He informed me (in Spanish) that the ticket I purchased was actually good for 3 people and that he would like to go to the match. Since that was the case, I paid 20 pesos to park the cab in the parking lot and we both entered the stadium with the ticket I had purchased.

Estadio Miguel Hidalgo
The stadium consisted of one level with mainly general admission seating. One good thing about Mexican sporting events is that the concession prices are cheap. One 940 milliliter beer (about two 16-ounce beers) at Pachuca only cost 40 pesos (less than $3). A paste (basically a warm sandwich) cost 10 pesos and sodas cost 17 pesos.

The Match
About 20 minutes into the match I began to realize my cab driver was a Pachuca supporter. He was singing all of the Pachuca songs and cheering for Pachuca the entire time. Also, he told me his Dad grew up in Pachuca. However, he had not been to a match for a long time since moving to Mexico City so at least he had not been planning to attend the match anyway.

Pachuca defeated UAG Tecos 3-2 after scoring the winning goal in the 90th minute. Before the winning goal, I made the cab driver move to the other side of the stadium where we had parked the car in order to avoid traffic. After the winning goal, we left and discovered the Mexican parking attendants had blocked the taxi with another car in the parking lot. After about a 5 minute wait the car that was blocking us left and we were able to leave without too much traffic.

We made it back to the hotel by 10:30 pm.

World Cup Qualifying: Mexico at USA

A few years ago, I started using my birthday to attend random sporting events that Nicole would never attend if it was not my birthday. In 2004 we attended the Gary Steelheads of the CBA, in 2005 we attended the Chicago Storm of the MISL and in 2007 we attended the Chicago Shamrox of the NLL.

This year was a little different in that I chose an event that was outside of Chicago and a much better event – the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team was hosting Mexico in a World Cup Qualifier in Columbus, OH. In addition, I wanted to visit my friend, John Bishop, who lives in Columbus.

A major decision when planning any trip is whether to fly or drive. My preferred travel method is by plane especially when travelling from one city to another (and even more so when I can fly Southwest Airlines). The Ultimate Sports Wife prefers the road trip. Thus, I looked up whether there would be a sporting event for us to attend when we drove back to Chicago on Thursday afternoon. There was – Notre Dame Men’s basketball was hosting Louisville in South Bend, IN. With that, Nicole and I were road-tripping to Columbus.

We left Chicago at 9:30 am – much later than I had hoped. We arrived at my friend’s house at 4:45 pm, got ready for the game and were at Claddagh Irish Pub, where Sam’s Army was planning to pre-party before the game, by 5:15 pm.

Obtaining Tickets
While we were at Claddagh Irish Pub, the bar tender yelled out “Does anyone need tickets?” I jumped up and said we do and walked over to the two guys who had the extra tickets. They wanted face value for the tickets. After discussing with John and his friend, we decided to buy the two tickets for face value which was $48 each. I had researched ticket prices before the game and tickets were hovering around $100 each (with about half at face value). This appeared to be a good price and we did not have to worry about buying tickets outside Crew Stadium.

We left Claddagh at 6:20 pm and drove to Crew Stadium. As we walked to the stadium there were a lot of extra tickets so we probably could have gotten a much better price. But with tickets in hand we were able to spend an additional 30 minutes in the pub.

The Game
The U.S. defeated Mexico 2-0. Michael Bradley scored both goals and is the first U.S. player to score two goals against Mexico since Steve Moyer scored two on November 23, 1980 in another World Cup Qualifier.

Fans in the Stands
This was one of the first soccer games I have attended in which the fans in the stands appeared unsafe. At European matches, visiting team fans sit in a separate location away from the host team. However, U.S. matches allow Mexican fans and U.S. fans to mingle with each other. We heard many U.S. fans make racist comments towards Mexican fans and the area around Sam’s Army was chaotic. It may be time for U.S. Soccer to consider giving Mexican fans a separate seating location or hold the event in more Mexican friendly cities such as Chicago, Houston or Los Angeles where the Mexican fans are not so outnumbered.

Post Game Dining
After the game we ate at Marcella’s – a pizzeria and wine bar located at 615 N. High St. Although the restaurant tried to tell us the restaurant was closed, once they realized we had six people they were happy to seat us. For the nightcap, we went to Zeno’s Victorian Village, within walking distance from John’s house, and located at 384 W. 3rd Ave.

Champions League: Dynamo Kyiv at Arsenal

In the first Champions League match I have attended since 2001, Arsenal defeated Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 on a late goal by Nicklas Bendtner. Once again, I attended the match with “Hospitality Jim” who started to think I was an Arsenal jinx since Arsenal had played 177 minutes without scoring a goal with me in attendance. Instead, with a free kick from beyond the mid field line, Cesc Fabregas launched a pass to Nicklas Bendtner who put the ball in the net for the only goal of the game.

Pre and Post Game Dining
Before the match, we ate at Pinchito Tapas at 322 Featherstone Street, a Basque tapas bar in Islington. If going from the Old Street tube station to Arsenal remember to take the Northern City Line, which is part of the network rail line rather than the Northern Line. This train will go directly to Drayton Park – a short walk to Emirates Stadium.

After the match, we went to a bar around the corner from the restaurant we dined at before the Aston Villa match - 25 Canonbury Lane. However, instead of ordering beer, the “Arsenal boys” were buying bottles of champagne just as they had 10 days prior. Maybe the Ultimate Sports Wife and I will need to adopt a “champagne only” mentality before Bears games rather than drinking cheap beer.

Emirates Stadium
In my two Arsenal matches at Emirates Stadium, I have not been impressed with the Arsenal faithful. Emirates Stadium, nicknamed the Library for the supporters subdued attitude, has been relatively quiet compared to the other matches I have attended in Europe. Also, the stadium has taken on more of an NFL stadium feel, rather than the old stadium feel of other European soccer stadiums.

Greek Super League: Thrasivoulos at Panathinaikos

After having to buy tickets on the secondary ticket market to Olympiacos I was a little nervous about attending the Panathinaikos match at Olympic Stadium Saturday night. On Friday night, I talked to the hotel receptionist about both Panathinaikos matches I wanted to attend. He stated the basketball match Sunday night would probably be sold out and that the soccer match Saturday night would not. He was right, attending the Panathinaikos was a completely different experience from the Olympiacos match Nicole and I attended last Sunday night. Of course, what I had failed to realize earlier in the week was that Olympiacos and PAOK were #1 and #2 in the Greek Super League, respectively. Tonight’s match was between a top team, Panathinaikos, and a bottom team, Thrasivoulos.

Nicole and I ate dinner in Psiri Saturday night – a concentrated area of restaurants in Psiri (to read Matt Barrett’s description of Psiri click here). Since Nicole had a scholarship application due by the end of November, we agreed that I should attend the soccer match while she worked on her scholarship application at the hotel.

I left the hotel around 5:30 pm for the 7:00 pm kick off and arrived at the 2004 Olympic Village just before 6 pm. I noticed ticket booths (white trailers) just outside the metro station. I walked up to one of the booths and bought a ticket to the match - 10 euros (ticket prices ranged from 10 euros to 40 euros and much easier than negotiating in Greek).

After I bought my ticket, I walked to Olympic Stadium. I was hoping for a similar atmosphere to the Olympiacos match Nicole and I had attended the prior Sunday. That night, after we bought “scalped” tickets we were able to relax outside the stadium with drinks and food. However, to my disappointment, there was no atmosphere to be found. I had a 5-10 minute walk from the ticket office to Olympic Stadium. On route there were a few sausage vendors (similar to those found outside of Staples Center, the Home Depot Center or the Rose Bowl). I walked half way around the stadium and realized there was no pre-game activity.

By the time I was in Olympic Stadium and seated, it was 6:45 pm. I bought myself a Coca-Cola Light (Diet Coke for those not familiar with European lingo) and flipped through the free (in Greek) program I received. I looked around the stadium and realized the match was nowhere near selling out. One side of the upper deck was completely empty and even the “supporters” section was half full. I figured this was the case since the opponent, Thrasivoulos, was in second to last place in the division.

The Game
Panathinaikos won the match 3-0. They scored a goal in the first half and two more early in the second half. I left the match disappointed in the Panathinaikos fan base, but realized they were probably not geared up for the poor opposition – in fact, I only saw one flame during the entire match – something I have become accustomed to at European soccer matches.

Greek Super League: PAOK at Olympiacos

Nicole and I arrived in Athens at 1:40 am Sunday morning after our day in London. We hopped in a cab driven by an associate of George Taxi and Limo, otherwise known as George the Famous Taxi Driver recommended by Matt Barrett. The cab took us immediately to the hotel and we were asleep by 3 am.

I had Sunday all planned. We would wake up, drink some coffee, get dressed and head to the Monastiraki Flea Market - the place to be in Athens on a Sunday. We would then eat lunch, shop some more and take the subway to the Olympiacos match that started at 7 pm.

Obtaining Tickets
We arrived at Karaiskakis Stadium a little before 6 pm. We walked directly to the box office to buy tickets – something I generally do not do, but I thought was a better move than trying to negotiate for tickets in Greek. “Sold out,” the box office attendant said. “Great,” I thought, but something that had never stopped me before. Even the Ultimate Sports Wife let out a, “If I had married a simpler man, I would be heading back to the hotel right now.” Little did I know Nicole would get a big assist with buying our tickets to the match.

We walked around the stadium for 15-20 minutes looking for tickets. There was no secondary ticket market. Each time I saw a person exchanging tickets for cash I would approach them asking 1) if they spoke English and 2) did they have extra tickets. Each time the answer was 1) yes and 2) no. And each time I did this, Nicole started to determine if the Greeks spoke a language other than Greek (or English).

Finally, we found an older man who was talking to some younger kids. I pulled out a 50-euro bill to show that we wanted to buy tickets. We determined he had two tickets for sale. He pointed for a second 50 (speaking in Greek) while at the same time stating he did not speak English. However, Nicole, after realizing Greek’s understood other languages, started to speak in some Italian/Spanish dialect and was able to come to an agreement on 80 euros for the two tickets.

Since we could not speak Greek we did not know the face value of the tickets (I asked what the face value was multiple times – in English). When the transaction was complete we looked at the tickets – 20 euros each. We paid twice face value, which I considered not bad for a sold out game with no scalpers in a foreign country and negotiating in a foreign language.

The Game
We ended up buying the tickets around 6 pm. So we decided to relax and enjoy ourselves around the stadium. We also hoped the tickets were not around any of the “most supportive fans” who light fireworks and flares within the stands which we had witnessed in Rome, Milan and Rio de Janeiro. We got to our seats and realized, thankfully, that the fans with flags (and flames) were on the opposite side of the stadium. As the match was about to start, the “supportive” Olympiacos fans grabbed their flares and started to wave them. The game started under a cloud of smoke so thick you could barely see the players.

Olympiacos scored a goal late in the first and second half to win the game 2-0.

Post Game Dining
The Ultimate Sports Wife and I took the train back to the flea market area and ate dinner at The James Joyce Pub, an Irish pub that was nearby and showed English and American Football. Since it was 9:30 pm the Chicago Bears were playing the Green Bay Packers. If you are looking for some Irish grub and some English banter after a long day in Athens this is the place to go – especially if you are in need of some American sports as well.

EPL: Aston Villa at Arsenal

The Ultimate Sports Wife and I landed at London’s Heathrow airport at 6:30 am. With a 13-hour layover before our 8 pm flight to Athens, Greece, I had already planned to attend the Arsenal and Aston Villa match at Emirates Stadium Saturday afternoon – kickoff was set for 3 pm.

Our friend, British Mick, had made all the plans for the day. He insisted on picking us up from Heathrow at 7:30 am (which was definitely a good decision) and drive us back to his place. From there we were to nap, shower and be ready to depart by 11:30 am in order to meet the “Arsenal boys” for lunch by noon.

We met Mick’s friends at the Cock Tavern – a pub directly next to the Highbury & Islington tube stop. We grabbed a drink at the pub before continuing to Gem Restaurant - a Turkish/Kurdish restaurant. Politics aside Kurdish/Turkish food should be read as Greek/Turkish food. Nicole and I laughed at the irony that we were dining at a Kurdish (read Greek) restaurant in London before flying to Athens for over a weeks visit. Nonetheless, after a few bottles of cava and wine I was ready for the match.

As we walked to Emirates Stadium, I asked one of the “Arsenal boys,” who we will call “Hospitality Jim,” how much I owed him for the ticket. He said I owed nothing and that they were corporate tickets. I was shocked and offered to buy him beers inside the stadium, which he agreed. Then, he handed me his season ticket card for entry to the stadium.

Note: The season ticket card looks and acts much like a driver’s license or credit card. Many European soccer clubs sell season ticket cards rather than individual tickets to season ticket holders. There are multiple reasons to do so:

1) It cuts down on secondary ticket market sales since the season ticket holder needs to invite a friend or walk the buyers of the ticket to the stadium themselves.
2) It must save on ticket cost since the club only needs to pay for one credit card per season ticket rather than the paper stock to create 10 (NFL), 45 (NBA and NHL), or 81 (MLB) tickets per season ticket.
3) It allows for easier transactions of tickets amongst season ticket holders. “Hospitality Jim” explained that if a friend has extra tickets and wants to sell them to you, Arsenal will transfer those tickets to the buyer minus a 10% commission.

In my personal opinion, it sounds like Arsenal wants to avoid the secondary ticket market and ensure they know who is entering the building. Arsenal’s decision to have a season ticket card has nearly eliminated the secondary ticket market.

My first thought of receiving the season ticket card was that I would need to find a paper ticket stub. I have paper tickets for nearly every event in which I have attended. For those events that do not have tickets, like a Tour de France, I try to find a proxy such as a flyer or something that might substitute. Thus, I asked a few people in the stadium if they had paper tickets. Each scoffingly laughed and said that I would be pretty lucky to find a paper ticket. Thus, I came to the conclusion that this would be my first game without having an actual ticket stub. In the absence of a ticket, I took a picture of “Hospitality Jim’s” season ticket card. My plan is to develop the picture and use that as my ticket stub.

At halftime the game was tied 0-0. I bought “Hospitality Jim” his beer as promised. The Premiership allows fans to buy and drink beer on the concourse. However, fans cannot bring beer to their seat, which kind of encourages you to chug your beer. The second half was not good for the home team. Aston Villa scored a goal early and late in the second half to win the game 2-0.

After the game, I found the Arsenal tube stop on the Piccadilly line since I could take that line directly to Heathrow without changing. The entire journey took about an hour and 20 minutes. I arrived at Heathrow at 6:30 pm and met Nicole (since she did not have a ticket for the Arsenal match). We sleepily sat waiting at the gate and boarded the plane for Athens. This was the ultimate sports layover for a trip to Europe.

U.S. Women’s Soccer vs. Ireland in Bridgeview, IL

In the third game of the day, the U.S. Women’s National team beat Ireland 2-0. The match set a record for the U.S. women for wins in a calendar year. They won their 29th match of the year moving their 2008 record to 29-1-1. Defender Kate Markgraf scored her first international goal in her 193rd international match (cap).

Getting to the game
We had a ride back from Toyota Park since Jim Cook’s wife and friend were driving to the stadium. From Wrigley Field, we took the Red Line to the Orange Line and got off the train at Midway Airport. At Midway, we connected to the “Toyota Park Express” Pace bus which dropped us off within walking distance of Toyota Park. If you happen to miss the last bus (the last bus leaves when the game starts), grab a taxi from Midway. The stadium is about five miles from the airport.

Obtaining Tickets
The group I was going with had already purchased their tickets in advance. I knew not many people would be attending the match so I waited outside of the Toyota Park box office and asked if anyone had extra tickets. One woman said she did, but thought I needed two tickets. I told her I needed one and she handed me her extra.

Tripleheader Day in Chicago

Today I am attempting to attend three sporting events at three different stadiums – Northwestern Football kicks off at 11 am, the Chicago Cubs first pitch is at 3 pm and the US Women’s National Soccer team hosts Ireland at 7 pm. I have only attended three sporting events at three different venues once before – June 5, 2004. That day I attended the Chicago Cubs game at noon, the Chicago Fire game at 3 pm (good thing the Cubs game only lasted 2.5 hours) and the Milwaukee Mile 250 at 8 pm.

Other than that day, I have attended 3 sporting events on the same day three other times. However, all of those days included two soccer games held at the same stadium and I only needed to buy one ticket. I combined those three doubleheader soccer events with a baseball game on July 11, 2004, July 17, 2004 and June 9, 2007.

World Cup Qualifying: T&T at USA

If you are looking for an international soccer match where the tickets are available and affordable, you do not have to travel far and the match has meaning, then check out the World Cup qualifying schedules. World Cup qualifying begins about two years before the next World Cup – meaning most countries are already participating in qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Last night, in the first World Cup qualifier I have attended, the US Men’s National Team defeated the national team of Trinidad & Tobago 3-0. The victory set 3 records for the U.S.

1) It was the first time the U.S. has earned six consecutive shutouts.
2) It was the sixth straight victory in World Cup qualifying dating back to 2006.
3) It tied the team record for five consecutive victories during a single World Cup qualifying campaign.

The game was played at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL so we had to drive and pay $15 to park. We thought about dining at Grand Duke’s Restaurant before the game, but settled for buying McDonald’s and eating in the parking lot with the other U.S. fans.

The attendance for the match was only 11,452, which was just above half full – a poor showing for the U.S. Men’s soccer team.

After the game, we drove north along Archer Rd. rather than Harlem Ave. If you are looking for a dive bar before or after the game, Archer Rd. has a handful to choose from (such as the Brown Jug Inn, Corner Joynt, and Uncle John’s Place) as you drive back to I-55. We did not stop in this time around, but may the next time.

Game #2: FC Barcelona vs. CD Guadalajara

As I wrote yesterday, I had hoped to beat the $30 face value price buying from ticket scalpers outside of the Soldier Field box office. However, the box office through me for a loop when we arrived and the cheapest ticket was now $60 – Soldier Field had doubled all the ticket prices for buying day of game at the box office. This gave the scalpers a tremendous advantage since they had a $60 price point to work with rather than $30. No scalper would accept under $50 per ticket since they knew that was still saving the fans $10 and the scalper's tickets were in better locations.

We ended up paying $240 for 5 tickets that were a couple rows behind the south end zone goal. Face value on the tickets was $50 ($100 day of game) so we felt we still did better than if we had purchased the tickets ahead of time on ticketmaster.com. Even a $30 seat in the upper deck would end up costing in the upper $30’s with all the Ticketmaster fees.

The game was actually exciting (the last international club friendly I attended at Soldier Field was Manchester United vs. Bayern Munich in 2004. That match ended in a 0-0 draw). Barcelona won the match 5-2 with some great goals.

After the match, we ate dinner at the Weathermark Tavern (located at 1503 S. Michigan Ave.). Weathermark Tavern is our preferred summer hangout around Soldier Field. It has an outdoor patio to dine at if it is not too hot and a lot of room inside if it is. They have a Sunday special of $2.50 Miller Lites and $5 Bloody Mary’s which I’m not sure is the case when the Bears are home.

Doubleheader Sunday: Wrigley Field and Soldier Field

Last September, I attended my first Wrigley Field and Soldier Field doubleheader. That day the Cubs played on Sunday afternoon and the Bears played Sunday night football.

Today, I am attending my second Wrigley Field and Soldier Field doubleheader. However, this time the Cubs are playing on Sunday afternoon and Barcelona is playing Chivas Guadalajara Sunday night.

I already have a ticket to today’s Cubs game. My friend, Mike Holzman, called me Friday and said he had an extra ticket.

We do not have tickets yet for the soccer match. Tickets are still available for $30 each or more on www.ticketmaster.com and they are available for less than that on craigslist.org. Since tickets are still available, we will try to pay around $20 or less from scalpers outside Soldier Field. Remember we paid $20 each (for $75 face value tickets) back in early June when Mexico played Peru at Soldier Field.

International Friendly: Mexico vs. Peru

In the second game I attended yesterday, Mexico beat Peru 4-0 in an international friendly at Soldier Field. After leaving Grace O’Malley’s, I made the 20 minute walk over to the Soldier Field ticket office. On the way, I talked with a few scalpers – most who wanted around face value for tickets.

Once I was at the ticket office, I again ran into the woman who recognized me at a Northwestern basketball game. This time we started chatting about how ticket sellers outside the stadium always save you money over ebay, stubhub or a ticket broker. However, most people do not like the negotiation that takes place with ticket scalpers outside the stadium. As we were talking, our Wrigley Field scalper, Broker Ben, came up and started chatting with me. He told me his tickets were too expensive for me (he wanted $40 each) and that I should wait for a better deal.

As we were milling around, a fan arrived with three extra tickets (face value was $75 each). He wanted $40 each, but I said I would only pay $40 for a pair. He agreed. As I walked back to meet the Ultimate Sports Wife, another scalper asked me how I had done purchasing tickets. I told him $20 each for $75 tickets. He said that was a good price.

International Soccer Ball Tip: The group of guys sitting behind us at the game last night caught a ball when it came into the stands. Soccer is not like baseball in that you can keep the ball. However, these guys tried to. Security came down twice and eventually found the ball, but these guys could have had a free souvenir if they had tried a little harder.

After the game, Nicole and I ate dinner at Exposure Tapas Restaurant located at 1315 S. Wabash Ave. The restaurant is in the same area as the Irish pub but a closer walk to the red line train station and has an outdoor patio. Last night (Sunday nights), Exposure has a half-price bottle of wine special. If you are heading to Soldier Field you should try one of the few restaurants on that corner.

Doubleheader Day: Chicago White Sox and International Soccer

For the first time since 2004, I am planning to attend a Chicago White Sox game and a soccer match at Solder Field in the same day. Today, the White Sox are hosting the Minnesota Twins at 1:05 pm and Mexico is playing Peru at Soldier Field at 7 pm.

The Ultimate Sports Wife, who is only attending the soccer match, is planning to meet me at Weather Mark Tavern located at 1503 N. Michigan Ave. in between games.