(Photo courtesy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Richard W. Rodriguez)
Thanks to Otto Gol for setting the wife and me up with choice tickets to the big UNICEF Charity Match against the LA Galaxy last night. We had a great time.
A few notes on the game: it felt like a regular season game what with the big Beckham crowd and the English National Team drama. All players were putting their full effort into the game. Coach Ruud Gullit has been busy in his first pre-season as coach of the Galaxy. They look like a different team. We were disappointed not to see Carlos "El Pescadito" Ruiz play for his old/new team, the Galaxy. He has a hamstring issue and didn't make the trip. No Juan Toja last night either unfortunately. Beckham's fit as a fiddle this year. Let's hope he stays fit this season. After his nice performance last night, he'll get his 100th cap vs. France this month. Barring an LA Galaxy MLS Cup win or Supporters' Shield where his play is a key part of team success, it'll be the last time he plays for England.
As for England's National Team scout Franco Baldini scouting Beckham at a charity pre-season match in Frisco, TX, well, it's a more than a bit of a ring toss. This Times of London report says that Becks will be called up for his 100th cap but denies that it will have had anything to do with his performance last night in Pizza Hut Park. The wife and I were in line at half time to get a couple of BBQ sandwiches. In front of us was this Italian guy with a Juventus baseball cap and Versace eyeglass frames. As he ordered his Pulled Pork sandwich, I wondered whether or not we were behind the very scout sent by England to evaluate Beckham's fitness! I hadn't bothered to check Google Images to see what this Franco Baldini looks like beforehand. (It wasn't Baldini after all, but it's good to see an Italian enjoying himself in North Texas at a professional soccer match enjoying the local cuisine.)
LA dominated the 1st half. LA Coach Ruud Gullit has definitely made an offseason impact on this team. They looked very sharp. A couple of players to look out for this year: Mike Randolph from Chino Hills, CA. He's really fast. Becks found him on a long ball to the left of Dario Sala and Randolph almost scored. And the former Red Bulls' goalie Steve Cronin. He looks tough to score against. Beckham & Donovan will find their mojo this season as well. Look for them to combine on some nice plays.
The game is nicely summarized here and here. So I won't bother trying to recap every little detail. FC Dallas finally put the pressure on in the 2nd half. There were a couple of missed shots. New kid Brek Shea made his home debut and scuffed a shot. (I used my digicam to take some very rough quality video of some of the plays. I've got Shea's flub in there too.) It's good that he got that out of the way in a pre-season match. He'll settle down with some more game time experience.
It was my wife's first visit to Frisco's Pizza Hut Park. She was really impressed with the stadium and enjoyed the game.
Frisco Traffic Notes: Driving north on the tollway at 6:55pm, we hit traffic a full mile south of the Main St. exit. So, it took us about 15 minutes to get through that and parking south of PHP & Frisco City Hall. Leaving the park after the game, we tried to avoid Main Street traffic and went south to access the Tollway from Cotton Gin Road. That proved to be a bad idea. Frisco is still a Minor League town traffic-wise. They have stop signs at the tollway & Cotton Gin Road. And right before the stop sign, the 2 lanes squeeze into one. Then you have to hurry across the frontage road to get under the overpass (no northbound stop sign or light) only to have yet another unprotected stop sign with southbound frontage road traffic speeding by as if lives depended on velocity. It's an act of bravery pointing your car into this onslaught.
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