Our first Crew road trip! - updated for part 2 soon!

The first thing I discovered is a five hour road trip with three kids in the rear seat is not so bad as long as the game boys are fully charged prior to leaving the house. We left on Friday and stayed overnight in Columbus.
Unfortunately, upon arrival we found out the hotel's indoor pool and game room were closed for remodeling so there went our plans for staying at the hotel and relaxing Saturday morning. I brilliantly decided the whole crew would sleep in and then go to Fado's, and Irish pub and restaurant, to try some new foods and watch the Fulham game.

I discovered three things at Fado's.

1) Fulham fans in Columbus do not go to Fado's which left us with one of two tables that had a view of the TV showing the Fulham match.
2) I discovered that my thirteen year old son is a genius for ordering a plain cheeseburger for lunch. The rest of us are adventurous eaters and decided to try some authentic Irish cuisine. My lovely wife Terri, Katie and myself all ordered the All-day Irish breakfast and I can now say without a doubt that bangers suck wind and pudding is better from a jell-o box! My older son tried the Shepard’s Pie and had plenty of leftovers.
3) I found out what it truly means to be a American Fulham Fan which I will add some comments about in the Fulham/Derby thread.

After meeting up with mi familia after the Fulham match we walked around Easton a bit and had a pretzel before heading to the Crew match. We arrived a little bit early but not as early as I would have liked due to some poor directions from Google maps. Parking was $10 but since we pay at least $5 to park at the kids tournament games it was less than I expected. We did arrive early enough to stock up on some Crew merchandise for the kiddos and after a good bit of cash for two jerseys and a t-shirt we headed to our seats shortly before kick-off.

Crew stadium was terrific. It is mostly bleacher seating with a few sections of chair back seats. I took PF's advice and purchased seats in the chair back sections on the west side. Good advice Fog. Many thanks! I almost felt like I was sitting on the players bench. The view of the game was incredible but I did not see any seats that looked like the view would have been obstructed. The pitch was immaculate. I don't know what I was expecting but I did not expect it to be that green this early in the year.

I told the kids on the way to the match that three of the players we had watched in the Olympic qualifiers were going to be on the pitch and pointed out Gaven, Edu and Wynne as they warmed up. (Hey Don, Katie immediately asked me if Dax was going to be there before I told them which ones were playing and she was disappointed not to get to see him. She was somewhat appeased that Maurice Edu was one of the three). Shortly after we were seated the match began. Toronto’s away support was superb. In fact, at times I felt a bit sorry for the Crew supporters sitting in north-east corner. They sang and chanted but were so outnumbered by the Toronto fans that at times I could hardly hear them. The atmosphere was really much better than I anticipated. A lot of singing, drumming and chanting from both sides fans and a good number of smoke canisters from the Toronto fans. Each time Columbus created a chance there was almost an audible gasp as the fans rose to their feet in anticipation. On the Crew's first corner the taker was pelted with streamers from the Toronto fans. The Crew fans in the north-east corner returned the favor on Toronto's only opportunity near them. With the exception of what looked like one or two rolls of calculator tape thrown in the direction of Columbus players most of it appeared to be in good fun.

The Columbus crowd erupted with cheers when Moffet scored the first goal and then later with boos when Toronto was given the PK near the end of the first half. I thought the boos were a bit harsh as the PK seemed deserved to me but then again that is what fans do. If the crowd was loud when Moffet scored they bested themselves when Hessmer stopped the PK and Moffet cleared the ball over the post. Shortly after the PK the first half came to an end.

The second half was very competitive. Toronto very nearly leveled the game on a corner but the ball was stopped on the goal line. In fact, from where I sat it looked like most of the ball was over the goal line but only the Toronto fans seemed to think it was a goal . After some back and forth soccer Eddie Gaven sprung Moreno free with a nice aerial pass. Most of the crowd, myself included, rose to their feet before the ball hit the ground as Moreno was running onto the pass and erupted once again when the ball hit the back of the net. From that point on the game was pretty much over.

After the game, the Crew players walked arm-in-arm to the supporters in the NE corners to thank them. I was glad to see that and I thought the gesture was well earned.

We left immediately after the game and did not see any trouble between the Crew and Toronto fans. The five hour return drive home went well and seemed to pass quickly. Overall it was a very good trip that only could have been made better by a Fulham win.

 

Too bad I couldn't go. I had all kinds of stuff going on this weekend for my U12 girls team.

I always love making the quick one hour trip south to see the Crew. ESPECIALLY when it's Toronto we are playing.

I will always be a Crew fan. Have been since the league started and even more when our boy McBride was there. As I have stated before, my prize possession is a signed McBride soccer ball.

But I also like that Columbus doesn't come off like a sellout club, read: Galaxy or NY Red Bull Sugar Free. They definitely have very Fulham-like tendencies. hehe.

 

I hope we will get to attend another game this year also. Between my sons U-13 spring schedule and my oldest daughter getting married this summer it might not be until late in the summer before we can go again. Who knows, maybe we can even meet a few of the FUSA folk.

I haven't told Katie yet but it looks like Dax and the hoops are coming to Columbus in August the week after my daughters wedding. Now if any of the kind folks in the MLS offices are listening Katie wants Benfica to come play the Crew in a pre-season friendly!

 

Woooooo Hoooooo! Columbus Part II

I will be in Columbus with my sons U-13 team for the Rev's match this weekend.

 

BarryP give us more notice and we can organize a FUSA-Crew outing

 

Mo I would love to get in on a FUSA-Crew outing!

This trip however was an addition to my sons tournament schedule. We were not 100% sure we were going until this weekend. One of the tournaments they were scheduled to play in was cancelled due to extremely poor field conditions (I think they were trying to get ahold of Noah that weeked to see if the ark was available for tranportation) and a tournament in Columbus was added. One of the selling points was getting to take the boys to a professional match.

Ironically, one of the teams in the opposite bracket is Team Ohio Fulham.

 

BarryP you have to check into the Team Ohio Fulham. I'd loved to hear what they are all about.

I figured the tourney was kind of last minute. I'll check the Crew's schedule for possible games to go to and maybe try to organize a FUSA outing.

 

Barry:

AFTER the tourney games get pix of "Team Ohio Fulham". Get some background if you have time. Ask if it's okay to post it on here.

I dont know if I'm going to make it to the game or not.

 

Yeah, that would be great! Find out who is responsible for the name - adults or kids.

 

Here's the thing... after missing a couple of matches for various reasons, though I'm not really superstitious, they are certainly doing great without me being there.

And that's no different than wearing your 'lucky shirt', is it?

BarryP, check your PM's

 

That's kind of what they said about greenhouse gases . . . . you never know.

 

I gotcher 'gasbag'! There... light THAT!

 

Our second road trip to Columbus proved to be an interesting trip. A last moment change in driving plans added my son’s coach to our trek over and back. He is from Carlisle, England and is just finishing his senior year at a local university. We talked football, England and the US for much of the 5-hour ride and the conversation seemingly shortened the drive.

We talked PL for a while and he told me being from Northern England he is a ManU fan but when I asked about his local team I found out that he played in the Carlisle United youth system and still has friends that play for the club. He was disappointed with the loss to Leeds in the playoffs and I was able to converse with him a bit about the game having watched it on TV.

With the coach riding in our van I did not have much time to find out about Team Ohio Fulham but from looking at the clubs homepage it seems many of their teams adopt professional club names. Our boys had shown steady improvement all year but put in a poor showing losing all three games by a combined 0-9 score and after not collecting a single yellow card all season we managed to collect one per game during the tournament. To the boy’s credit, through a mixture of injuries and a couple of boys that could not attend, they played with only one sub all weekend and were down by a combined score of 0-2 for the three games at half.

The two losses on Saturday did not seem to dampen the boy’s spirit at the Crew match that evening. The play the Crew was as spirited as the boys were in the stands but unfortunately our tourney mojo seemed to rub off on the squad. Their finishing touch in front of the net deserted them and a late penalty in the box allowed the Rev's to leave with an undeserved 1-0 victory. Even with the loss most of the boys and a few of the parents were very vocal about their enjoyment of the match with several talking about plans for a return trip. Coach enjoyed the game and when asked about the difference between watching a Priemier League game and an MLS game he told us that the speed at which the game is played in the attacking third was the thing that stood out to him the most.

Although the atmosphere did not match the opening day against Toronto it was still very good. I am sure another trip is in the cards sometime this year. Hopefully I can plan this one in advance and meet a few of the FUSA members!