Premier Soccer

I've always wanted to see a EPL game live.  I mean, who wouldn't?  The best players, the most famous teams, the passionate crowd...there's only one problem.  It's all the way in dreary England.  I don't know about you, but I don't find myself often on the other side of the Pond.   But hey since most Americans can't go to the EPL, why not bring the EPL to America?  Man City v. Chelsea in Yankee stadium.  Surreal?  Very much so.  Fun?  Amazing.  Even a rainy, cold 50 degree day (Spring?  What Spring) couldn't ruin the event.



Now there have been many times that EPL clubs have visited the states.  But I've never had the chance to go, so it was really exciting for me to see players I make the trek to the local Irish Pub for every Saturday morning.  Torres, Hart, Nasri and Ramirez...these are the faces that dominate Fox Soccer every weekend.  And seeing them in person?  Wow.  That's all I can say.  The skill was so insane.  Even though it was a friendly, the two teams went at it  (possibly because City now has some skin in the game in having Americans like soccer with their new partnership in a bringing a second MLS team to NYC, and hey if City is going to try you know Chelsea will as no way do they want to get embarrassed).  True, there was absolutely no defense (5-3), but that just added to the level of entertainment.  Best goal of the day was a free kick that curled beautifully into the upper 90 as the goalie helplessly looked on.

The craziest thing to me was the amount of people in the stadium.  I mean Yankee stadium was full!  I don't think that would have happened 5 years ago.  And these people knew there soccer.  As someone who is just waiting for soccer to reach the level they have been predicting it would in the US for years, it was a really cool site to see that the sport has picked up more steam than I had realized.  

So if you ever have the chance to see an EPL game, make sure to do it.  You'll get to see why the rest of the world loves soccer.