The Beautiful Game

I went to my first football match in the US. There are twelve teams in US Major League Soccer; two of whom are based in Los Angeles. There are also two Major League baseball teams, two NBA basketball teams, and two National Hockey League teams. There are no teams in this city that play American Football in the NFL. Both the Raiders and the Rams have left town several years ago.

I went to watch the LA Galaxy, the more established of the city’s two teams. They have been in the league since its founding in 1995, are current holders of the league title and the cup. The US Open Cup is a knockout competition that dates back to 1914; putting the lie to the oft held assumption that football is a recent phenomenon in the US. The LA Galaxy plays in the same colours, yellow shirt and green shorts, as Norwich City, who I have supported since childhood. The Galaxy play at The Home Depot Center, a ground they share with the other LA football team, Chivas USA. It is a modern 27,000 seat stadium, with the pitch sunk below ground level. Thus you enter above about half of the seats, allowing disabled access to well placed seating; a big change from most UK stadia. The two goal ends are uncovered and the height of the canopy along the sides makes it clear that the roof is intended to keep the sun off the spectators rather than provide protection from wind and rain.

The most obvious difference from UK football grounds is the ready availability of alcohol; spirits, beer, and Bud Lite. You can carry the drink back to your seats and drink in clear sight of the pitch. The crowd was noticeably younger and than would be the case for a match in the UK. Otherwise, it was surprisingly familiar; a significant proportion of the crowd in team colours, one section entirely so and from which most of the singing and noise emanated. The names of a few players dominate the backs of the shirts; Donovan, Jones, and Hartman. There was even the annoying bloke who shouts abuse at the top of his voice; although here it was less annoying as I did understand what he was saying as the yelling was in Spanish.

There was the occasional bizarre announcement during play directing the crowd’s attention to the big screen so that we could see the person in the lucky seat who had just won a set of power tools, or a DVD player. The screen would then show someone waving their prize to all and sundry.

The game was against FC Dallas, who are top of the Western Standings, while the Galaxy lie bottom. From this game, it was not evident why FC Dallas are in that position. The Galaxy enjoyed better possession and made far better use of it, with two excellent goals in the first half. The game finished 2-0. Despite a rather more urgent performance in the second half from the visitors, the best chances still fell to the Galaxy. The game was played at a slower pace than in the UK, with a lot of short passing to feet. LA Galaxy in particular always seemed to look for a short pass even if it was in defence and across their own goal.

One last oddity occurred after the final whistle, as the announcer described the score as two-zero. Having watched much of the World Cup here, it is clear that the word nil is not used in scores; it sounds very strange to English ears.

Translations:
Soccer (US) = Football (UK)
Jerseys (US) = Shirts (UK)