Monday, July 23, 2012

Sports – Soccer Comes to Yankee Stadium


            Paris St. Germain met Chelsea in an exhibition match yesterday evening at Yankee's Stadium.
            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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