by Ethan Johnson
September 21, 2007

Alright, another FCD home game! And this one was highly anticipated (by me). Not only was this the first appearance of Cuauhtemóc Blanco at Pizza Hut Park, but also Marlena's first ever pro soccer game. Can you stand it? I sure can't! And now, get on your feet, and make some noise for YOUR investigative bullet points:

• Here's the news, FCD fans: If you're wanting more people to come to the games, bring people to the game. Marlena hates soccer (although she has been slowly warming up to it since last year, ish), but before the audience arrived she was using the royal "we", talking about how "we" need to be sure to attend the final home game next month against Chivas USA. OK, we will. Hear that, Kevin the ticket guy?
• Marlena was really impressed with the stadium, and gave the bathrooms a good report. Good to know. (I make it a point not to use stadium bathrooms - I'd rather watch the game and go home.)
• I had free tickets for this game, which are in a different section than I am used to, on the right side of the goal on the endline. I was thinking this would be an exciting new camera angle, but really, it was pretty awkward. Not many in-game action shots this time. However, it was good for capturing "atmosphere" pictures. Enjoy!
• Since we sat a few sections away from the hardcore supporters' section, I thought we'd be able to hear ourselves think. Wrong! The stadium was THE loudest that its ever been this season (at least relative to every game I have attended). We had auxilliary drummers next to us, who fortunately used bass drums instead of sharper and more ear-splitting snares. Plus, we were near an enclave of Blanco groupies. I would say "Fire fans" but they're all about Blanco, period.
• OK: Listen up, FCD defenders: Quit playing the ball forward!! More than a few times, Chicago had some sweet scoring chances because the final third of the pitch consisted of a Chicago attacker, air, and Dario Sala. That can't happen. It just can't.
• Same with Sala coming 99 yards off his line to make a save. Great if he, you know, makes the save, but there was a huge scare when he didn't, and luckily an FCD player managed to knock it away for a corner kick. See, Chicago is reasonably good at corner kicks with Blanco on the payroll, so that's not a sure-fire way to keep points off the board. Luckily nothing bad happened, other than me nearly hurling in fear/frustration.
• Denilson showed me some fawking amazing stuff during the first half of the first half. Mar and I sat there stunned, but the cutesy moves came back to haunt him when he ended up with the ball at his feet in front of the Chicago net and wasn't able to make the finishing move. ARGH. Close the deal!
• Clarence Goodson shoving the Fire player in front of the FCD goal was sta-oopid. I was worried a penalty kick was going to be called. Fortunately it didn't on a technicality, I suppose, but come ON! This isn't the first pushy-shovey incident out of Goodson lately. No me gusta.
• Speaking of no me gusta, I couldn't see what happened because of my odd angle and the quickness of the action, but Rolfe on Chicago scored a golazo from several yards out, and the Blanco groupies sounded like a Fire home game. WTF! The makeshift drum corps near them tried to wave them off, but good grief. It's not like Blanco actually scored, anyway. Posers.
• By the way, speaking of posers (grin), Giaco, if you surf in and find this, I didn't bother seeking out actual Fire fans who might have road-tripped in for the game because my wife was with me and hanging out with her was in my top 1000 priorities. If any Fire fans made the trek, I hope they had a good time. Seriously.
• Carlos Ruiz finally answered back with a nifty, had to go home and watch the replay goal during stoppage time. Loved the bow and arrow gesture after the shot. But what is UP with that hair? Superficial enquiring minds want to know!
• Calen Carr came on for Chicago late in the game, and he is freaking scary, man. Blazing speed. FCD subbed in Dominic Oduro a little later as their counter, but sheesh. Fortunately Carr couldn't close the deal.
• Oh, and those Blanco fans are total posers, man. Once he was subbed off, a huge chunk of audience cleared out. Buh bye. The ones in the corner who stayed threw beer and assorted crap onto the field after the game. Class, all the way. Way to set soccer fandom back 10,000 years. I don't blame this on the Fire, or Blanco, or hispanics, or any other rash generalization anyone might care to offer. I blame these specific individuals for not having the class to keep the trash off the field, and show good sportsmanship. Grrr - nobody acted like that when Pachuca came to town, so cram the racial stereotyping just because Blanco was here.
• 1-1 is your final. Both teams come away with a standings point, which beats a stick in the eye considering FCD was looking at a whole lot of nothing before Ruiz scored. FCD hangs on to the Brimstone Cup another year. LA Galaxy is next (at LAG), which should be a sure-fire 3 points. Let's hope so.

Click on the thumbnails to see the full-sized image. Enjoy!

ESPN HDTV camera winch	First look at Blanco	Here come the Hoops	Carlos Ruiz and his new 'do
Blanco's groupies	Saw way too many of these jerseys at the game	One for the scrapbook	Halftime huddle
Clarence Goodson	Goodson gets carded	Blanco off to the corner	Alvarez vs Rolfe
Blanco must be kicking another corner	FCD crowd in front of goal	PHP crowd filling in nicely	The Empire strikes back

Next home game is on September 30th against the even more hated Houston Dynamo. I'm bringing another n00b to the game. Stay tuned, true believers! <EM>

(Much, much more virtual ink has been spilled by me about Major League Soccer. The fledgling but growing MLS article archive may be found here.)