MLS All-STAR GAME

David's first post! Que Momento! So the time came to go to the MLS All-Star game in the Rio Tinto Stadium in Salt Lake City. Aaron, Ammon, Moy, Jessica, Hugo, Udine, Michelle and all the Nettesheims and me were in our seats ready for the game to start at 7:30pm. Thanks to my contact "Udine" (see photo below) we were able to get excellent seats, just a few feet away from the north-west corner. The weather was fantastic and the ambiance spectacular.

It was so great to be there along with friends enjoying of this great event. It had been a long time since I had attended a professional soccer game and it was so incredible to be there. I was particularly excited to see the great Cuauhtémoc Blanco “El Cuau” play up close and personal. Every time he touched the ball, the people went crazy. The match ended up going to penalty kicks and it seems that “El Fantasma del Penal” came upon the MLS team making them miss 3 of the 5 shoots. At the end the score was the last thing I cared about, it was all about celebrating the biggest sport in the world.

By the end of the night, I had no voice left, I left it all on the field supporting our team chanting and celebrating the entire 2 hours plus. I did learned something last night. There is a section on the stands called “La Barra REAL”, these are a group of crazies that have drumbs, matracas, trompetas and all other kinds of noice and smoke making devices and some large amounts of alcohol I am sure. It seemed to me that they were the ones that were having the most fun of all, since the noise started way before the game started and went all the way to the end. The chanting was very creative, especially towards the other team and it just seemed like that was the place to be. I will need to figure out what I need to do to get me tickets somewhere closed to that section next time. Que viva el futbol!

Left: Announcing Cuauhtémoc as part of the starting line-up
Middle: La magia de Cuau who originated the play for the score
Right: Landon Donovan masterfully executing "La Pena Maxima"