I headed down to the Galaxy v Barcelona match at the Rose Bowl on Saturday night and it was pretty much everything that you have read about. Absolutely packed, loud, with informed fans that were into the game from jump. In fact, I cruised around Pasadena for a few hours before the game, and you could feel the buzz in the air and see people in both Barca and Galaxy jerseys everywhere. Pretty much exactly how things should be before EVERY game.
I decided that instead of parking at the Rose Bowl, that I would park in Old Town Pasadena and take a shuttle down there. Seemed like a good idea. Until I got to the loading area for the shuttles and realized I was in line behind about 10,000 people. The line twisted and turned for quite possibly the entirety of Pasadena’s largest parking lot.
This was the crowd outside right before kickoff. Lots of folks trying to get to their seat in a very short amount of time. Controlled chaos…
Yummm…snow cones…
Galaxy supporter groups were holding it down. As I was standing here they were making it rain streamers.
I honestly got chills as I was walking on the sideline. The crowd was crazy loud, flash bulbs were going nuts and an American soccer team was about to take the field against the European champions. Hard not to imagine a day when it will always be like this for American soccer…
The commish came up to the press box at halftime to answer some questions. Things were cool for a minute and then it was like a swarm of bees surrounding the dude. I ended up shaking this scene after some dude damn near tried to piggy back me so he could get his microphone closer to Don Garber. That’s always a good sign that it’s time to peace out.
As an American soccer fan these are the nights that we dream about. From what was going on in the city, outside the stadium, the size of the crowd and their involvement, topped off with the play on the field. Icing on that cake will be when this scene is for two American teams. But all in all, there wasn’t much to complain about Saturday night. Here’s to American soccer!
