Fulham Summer East Coast US Tour

@dtowndough, @astroevan, and @tim I'll be at FedEx field in section 134 row 23. Hope to see you there! I'll be the guy in Tim Ream's first Fulham shirt from 2015-16 - the first VisitFlorida logo in blue.

 

I didn't know about the supporters section so I'm up on the club level in section 323. I'll wander down to the supporters area before Fulham's match and look for a Ream jersey. I'll be wearing the all red marathon bet jersey circa 2014.

 

Hello everyone (from my D.C. hotel). Is anyone going to the meetup this evening? Hope it’s a good time.

Edit: Brian McBride just tweeted that he’ll be at the meetup tonight (as if I wasn’t already excited).

Regardless I’ll be in the back of 134 tomorrow, sporting a black WorldMobile shirt and a members’ club scarf from many years back.

 

I’ll be five rows behind you. I’ll be sure to look out for you.

 

Hopefully you guys can post a pic or two.

 

How’s this?

 

Wow! @tim you are a dead ringer for Brian McBride, but who's that guy you're standing with in the hat??

 

I didn’t get his name. Handsome guy, though!

 

For those of you who won't be able to see the action in person, the match against Chelsea will be carried live on NBC this afternoon. Reminder, kickoff is at 2:45pm EDT.

Peacock had been carrying most of the other Summer Series matches, but this was when I unfortunately discovered that Comcast no longer includes Peacock with my Xfinity internet service. One more streaming service to sign up for.

 

The highlights from the Chelsea match:


Despite the 2-0 loss, I was generally pretty pleased with it from the perspective of a pre-season match:

• De Fougerolles held his own out there. Might he have earned a spot on the first team roster as a back up? He may be talented enough for that, but I imagine they want him to keep developing in PL2 so I doubt he'll be called up. Good sign for the future though.
• I did not expect to see Bassey on the pitch, but I was thrilled he was able to play a full half. I thought he looked pretty good. He's a strong presence, made some good blocks, and seemed comfortable with the ball. My main concern was that he didn't respect enough his opposition. He went too deep into the Chelsea lines a few times and got himself into some trouble when he lingered on the ball. He needs to remember he's not playing in the Erdevise or the Scottish Premiership.
• I was stunned to see Pereira back this early. At the start of the summer I was worried he might not return until well into the season, so seeing playing again in July was great news.

Of course there were some disappointments:

• Diop was involved in both goals. The corner was pretty well placed against Fulham's zone defense, but it was Diop's to win. I was more disappointed on the second goal when he made a very good stop before turning it over under no pressure and putting Fulham in a terrible situation.
• Fulham's crosses and corners from Robinson, Willian, and Tete. It was pretty toothless.
• Cairney went out early, but it felt like he was talking himself out as a precaution more than anything else. It is a reminder that he probably isn't healthy enough to start matches these days, but I hope it won't take him out of action for long.

As for the experience, I had some great conversations with other Fulham fans. Many of them were still very pumped from the event with McBride the night before. My favorite story was from a woman who had come with her Dad all the way from London just for this match. She stood out because she was wearing a Vinicius shirt. Probably the only person in the stadium not named Carlos who had that shirt! I asked her about how she came to own this shirt. It turns out she is a season ticket-holder and before the match against Chelsea she promised her Dad that if Vinicius scored, she'd buy his shirt. Vinicius of course scored the winner that day and she was true to her word and got the shirt. Sadly, I didn't catch up with anyone from the forum!

One downside of the event - so many flippin' Chelsea fans in the Fulham section - can't they read?! I had Chelsea fans on three sides, bleh. Note the lack of Whites in this photo from my seat:

I had really hoped for a solid Fulham section. We were out numbered 10-1 in the stadium, so at least give us our own space! As the game was close to wrapping up a couple Fulham fans started singing their favorite anti-Chelsea songs, but were drowned out by booing fans in blue.

Mitrovic, Tosin, and Ream had a little fitness group going at the end of the match. I don't know what to think when I see Mitrovic now - it was weird.

 

@tim Its been awhile, the beard is looking good on you Tim! Hope our paths cross this season!

 

Thanks Joe! For sure, we’ll need to plan a meetup.

 

As I sit to write this I almost feel like I waited too long. So I'll try to recap as best I can. The experience at FedEx Field was overall a good one. I found it really enjoyable to be around a lot of other fans of the game. One of my favorite parts was seeing (remembering) so many of the older jerseys. The fanfest wasn't as exciting as I hoped for, but I got to sit at the cottage which was nice.



I agree with Micah's comments about the game. Bassey's inclusion was a surprise, as was the play of De Fougerolles. Bassey was, if anything, confident. Though it was obvious that he hadn't spent enough time with his teammates.

On the other hand, the lead up to the second goal was comical. From a Fulham perspective it went from bad to great to what's happening? to bad to worse. Hopefully Diop gets all of these moments out of his system before Saturday.



My perspective was a bit like watching on tv. The section was mostly neutral with a smattering of Fulham and Chelsea supporters. We all had a good time and joked about the amount of time it took Willian to get up from a foul and his age. I just wish I had something (a goal) to celebrate.

 

That made me laugh out loud - it was a perfect summary of how the moment was experienced!

As mentioned before I wore my Tim Ream shirt from the first year he played for Fulham. For certain Fulham fans who knew their kits they would come up to me and say "Is that real?" or "How did you get that?" For them it was treated with the reverence of a star player's rookie season baseball card. I had hoped to get Ream to sign it, but sadly he was focused on getting Mitro to do drills with him after the match.