Chelsea v Club America (w/Pics)

[gusmahler]

Chelsea's annual US tour (now sponsored by Disney: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/spo...cle2076424.ece ) started today at Stanford Stadium, against Club America, the most successful team in Mexico.

I had $30 seats, but they were pretty good:


I was sitting above the Chelsea supporters section. Across the stadium was the America supporters. They never stopped chanting and celebrating:




Who says Chelsea has no width (Joe Cole and Arjen Robben on the wing)?


The first half was uneventful. America scored on their first possession of the game, but neither team had many chances after that.

Being a friendly, both teams had many substitutions. Chelsea replaced 9 players at the half (all but Glen Johnson and John Terry). But when your B-team is this stacked, you don't need to worry:


I guess America must not have much depth, because their defense, which seemed impenetrable in the first half, really sucked in the second half. Chelsea controlled the entire second half and had many chances. Chelsea tied the game with a goal I didn't get on camera, by the new guy, Florent Malouda.

At about the 82nd minute or so, Kalou was fouled deep in the America half. It looked iffy to me, but the linesman was only about 10 feet from the play, and he said it was a foul.

The resulting free kick resulted in this:








Chelsea won 2-1.

I then had the worst parking lot backup I've ever seen. I was literally standing still for 20 minutes. I don't mean "I was moving really slowly." I mean "I turned the engine off set the parking brake and could have taken a 20 minute nap." Even after we started moving, it took forever to get out of the lot. I was stuck in the lot for nearly 50 minutes. Stanford just doesn't have the roads to support a 47,000 seat sold game.

[ThaSaltCracka]

nice pics, thanks for sharing.

Did Sidwell play? How did he look?

[gusmahler]

[ QUOTE ]
nice pics, thanks for sharing.

Did Sidwell play? How did he look?

[/ QUOTE ]

Sidwell did play, but first half only. He was mainly playing in the opposite end of the field, so I didn't really notice much about his play.

[ThaSaltCracka]

The last segment of photos are cool btw.

I am still perplexed by the Sidwell signing. Very odd actually. Dude wasn't good enough for Wenger....he starts for Reading....somehow he is good enough for Chelsea????

[THEOSU]

if chelsea learned something last year it's that depth is key. sidwell played really well for reading last season, and will definitely have value in a rotation system at chelsea.

who wore number 51? was that malouda?

also, how is glen johnson still at chelsea?

[NozeCandy]

Did Landon Donovan play?



I guess not since the score was only 2-1.

[Fletcher19]

nice pics

[The once and future king]

Thanks alot for this. Who took the free kick? How did Malouda look/play?

[dukemagic]

Yeah, I'm staying on the Stanford campus this summer, and had a chance to buy cheap tickets for the game, but I didn't read the emails closely and I just assumed it was off campus somewhere. I would have bought the tickets if I had known...

Oh well. Nice pics - was the game really fun to watch, or do you have to enjoy soccer? What do you think of the new stadium?

[gusmahler]

[ QUOTE ]
who wore number 51? was that malouda?


[/ QUOTE ]

Malouda was 15. 51 was Hutchinson.