It was my first time at the new
stadium, and I must say, I liked it! Very enjoyable, with a cool, unique design
that is reminiscent of the old Yankees Stadium, which I never felt they should
have knocked down. Still don't, for that matter.
Still, what's done is done, right?
Yes, the new stadium is nice. Plus,
it was a perfect evening to be there, to enjoy it. The temperature was just
right, and the night breeze felt very nice.
The atmosphere was excited and
enhanced the overall feel of the game, and most assembled were pulling for Chelsea . Chelsea is the more established of the two
teams, with an illustrious history and some tremendous success over the course
of years and decades. Perhaps that was a large part of the reason that they had
a de facto home game in the Bronx last night.
They were certainly the more famous of the two franchises.
Yet, Paris St. Germain (PSG) is on
the rise, having recently acquired more money with which to acquire better
talent, with the eye towards reaching elite European status, much like Chelsea
itself has done.
"Chelsea
was one of the best teams in Europe, and Paris St Germain wants to be one of
the best teams in Europe ," said PSG Coach
Ancelotti. He continued, "To reach the highest level in Europe ,
you have to spend money. Chelsea
made this investment 10 years ago, and they are at the top. Paris St Germain
started last year. We want to be quickly at the top of European Football."
Towards that end, PSG has indeed
invested big money to attract big talent. They have already what can be
considered a star-studded lineup, and they just added to that even more, having
just acquired Ezequiel Lavezzi, Thiago Silva, and Zlatin Ibrahimovic, although
Ibramovic did not make it to this game.
Still, Chelsea figured to be the favored team, and
with a relative home field advantage, perhaps that was even more pronounced
than usual. Yet, Paris St Germain came to play, and they played well, creating
the better scoring chances early, before finally breaking through and scoring
to take a lead from a goal in the 30th minute by PSG star Nini, who
managed to score the goal, despite the ball bouncing off the leg of Chelsea
defender Davis Luiz, who just was unable to clear it and remove the threat.
For a long time thereafter, it
looked like PSG was the better team, as they dictated the tempo. The upset
seemed likely, until Chelsea
managed to apply strong pressure towards the end, controlling the ball and
creating numerous turnovers, before finally breaking through with an exquisite
goal by 18 year old Lucas Plazon in the 82nd minute to tie it.
Both teams had some decent scoring
opportunities towards the end of the game, with Chelsea about to take a corner kick for the
possible game winning goal, before the refs stopped the game during extra time,
ending it with a 1-1 draw.
All in all, a very intriguing game,
and quite enjoyable atmosphere at the home of the Bronx Bombers. It was the
first soccer game that the new Yankee Stadium has yet hosted, although it is
hosting a big one next month, on August 9th, when Real Madrid takes
on AC Milan.
Below is a link to a decent article "Chelsea , PSG draw at
Yankee Stadium" by The Associated Press, from which I got the quotes used
in this blog:
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/story/2012/07/22/sp-chelsea-paris-st-germain-new-york.html?cmp=rss
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