What follows is probably one of the lamest match reports you will ever read. You have been warned. The US men's national team played the Chicago Fire today out at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. If I had to guess at the number of people who were at the game I'd put it at about 2-3 thousand but then I've never been all that great at estimating crowd sizes. It was mostly sunny with a few short rain showers and the field was in great condition. Landon Donovan was the only player that I know of who was on the roster for the Seattle game but was not at the game today. This was a huge disappointment to a group of U14 girls who stopped to talk to their parents right next to me. It was really a pretty dull match overall with neither team getting many good scoring opportunities. Brian McBride scored the only goal of the match in the 40th or so minute after taking a Fire player down just outside the box and slotting it home in the lower left corner of the net. I'm not sure who he mugged but the ref let it go and the goal stood. One of the few highlites of the game was when Chris Aramas absolutely flattened DaMarcus Beasley as each player fought over a 50/50 ball. It was like watching a school bus hit a geo metro head on. I'm sure Dave Sarachan wasn't too amused. At the end of the game, only about 20 or so people waited around for the players to leave the field and the players were all very good about taking the time to sign shirts and balls and pose for photographs. Looking back, I regret not speaking to some of the players but such is life. Finnegan, care to post your picture with McBride?
Oh my god! Which school did you take journalism? If ESPN doesn't hire you, they are dummy heads. That report rocked! In other words, thanks. I'll take what I can get.