Day 1: My wife and I arrived in Boise after a 8 1/2 hour drive. Checked into our hotel in downtown Boise and walked over to the CenturyLink Arena. Bumped into some Mexican National Team members also walking to the arena. CenturyLink Arena is a modern arena that sits about 5,000 for arena soccer. The concourse is located inside the seating area so you don't ever miss any action. We walked around the arena and soon realized there isn't a bad seat in the house. Our seats for both days were in the first row of the upper deck, almost at midfield. Game one for the evening pitted Mexico versus Columbia. Right from the start one could tell that Mexico was definitely the more technical team and would have little trouble in the game. With a balanced scoring attack, Mexico defeated Columbia 7-3. Game two matched USA versus Somalia. Compared to the first match, this one was one a slaughter. Somalia had all the appearances of poorly organized division three college team and really should not have been out there against an experienced USA team. Led by the scoring ability of Gordy Gurson (4 goals), the USA demolished Somalia 11-0. This result gave goalie Boris Pardo his first professional shutout (this stat was told to me by Boris himself). After the match, we went down to the field and met up with and spoke to Andrew Hoxie and Travis Pittman (Baltimore Blast), Leo Gibson (Kansas City Comets), VcMor Eligwe (Dallas Sidekicks) and Boris Pardo (San Diego Sockers), getting pictures with many of them. All of them seemed pleased with their performance but was really looking forward to Mexico the next night. Day 2: Saturday saw us spending the day exploring Boise including the Idaho State Capitol building and the Old Idaho Penitentiary. Back at the arena, the third place game matched Columbia versus Somalia. As expected, an over-matched Somalia lost to Columbia 15-2. Bernie Lilavois kept motioning to the scoreboard operators to keep the game clock running to end this misery as soon as possible. I ran into Bernie on the concourse and thanked him for setting up this tournament. He simply smiled and thanked me for being there. The championship game pitted Mexico versus USA. This was a highly emotionally and technically played game between two skilled teams. It went back and forth with scoring opportunities and hard fouls. With Leo Gibson's one goal and two assists and Idaho's own Brian Farber scoring two goals, Team USA held on for a 3-2 victory to win the 2018 Delta Dental Arena Cup. Day 3: Spent eight hours driving back home. Found a different route with less road construction to shorten the time by a half an hour. Summary: Although neither night was anywhere close to a sellout (would estimate 1,800 for Friday and 2,400 for Saturday), the organizers basically got what they wanted: a championship match between USA and Mexico that was well-played, competitive and emotional. This game, regardless of the outcome, was well worth sitting through three other non-competitive games. The friendly interactions between the US and Mexican fans occurred throughout the arena with multiple chant battles occurring throughout the game (U-S-A!) (Mex-i-co!). I would definitely consider attending another tournament in Boise again. I would only hope that there would be four really competitive teams, not just 2+. Enjoy some pictures from the weekend. 1. Outside the CentryLink Arena 2. Inside the arena about an hour before kickoff 3. Andrew Hoxie and Bernie Lilavois pregame on Friday night 4. Boris Pardo vs. Somalia 5. Leo Gibson in warmups versus Mexico 6. Game action: USA versus Mexico
Friday night (Mexico v. Columbia, USA v. Somalia) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/298633109 Saturday night (Columbia v. Somalia, USA v. Mexico) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/299044908