Dynamo vs. Galaxy, FC Barcelona vs. Club America

I was very excited about this one. I had set up to go with Michael Lou, a close friend from high school that I hadn't seen in a very long time. Near game day, he was concerned that he would not be able to go, but then, right at the end, turns out he was available. So, I set out Wednesday afternoon, leaving early from work, and made the 4 hour drive to Houston. The doubleheader was being played at Reliant Stadium on the far South side of Houston. As I began to get close, traffic started backing up. I had heard on the radio that the ame was sold out and that there were no tickets available. It was kinda crazy. I probably sat in line around the stadium for a bout an hour. The first half of the Houston game was almost over when I finally parked, but I was OK with that since I was going for the Barcelona game anyway. I parked, walked across the street to the stadium (not too far), found Michael, and headed in. The tickets that we had were not great, but they were pretty good. Actually, they were very good. We were in the last row of the lower deck, on the endline, on the aisle. We had a good view. Reliant Stadium was pretty nice. There were clean bathrooms and plenty of concession options. The sight lines were good. And it was packed. I mean packed. Four decks worth of packed. They said there were over 70,000 people there. And almost all of them had probably come for the Barcelona game. The Dynamo ended up losing to LA on a neat little chip shot volley by Santino Quaranta. Houston controlled the play for most of the game, but they were unable to convert and ended up taking a 1-0 loss. Near the end of the game, I decided to take trip to the concession stand and ended up standing in quite a long line. I mention this because later, during the Barcelona game, I tirned around and there was absolutely nobody there. Clearly that was the game of interest. When they announced the starters for the two teams, I expected America to be the favorite. While they had a very large and vocal number of supporters, I was stunned to discover that Barcelona was the overwhelming favorite. And the fans were going nuts. In the first couple of minutes, the two teams played fairly evenly, feeling each other out. I was expecting a blowout by Barcelona, even though they didn't start Ronaldinho, the greatest player on the planet, or Samuel Eto'o, the African superstar. So, I was shocked when America got a quick goal off a bit of a breakaway and took a 1-0 lead. The America fans were still making themselves heard when Barcelona took the kickoff, made two or three quick passes, got a corner and nodded one into the back of the net. It was super-quick. The Barcelona crowd went bonkers. Some of the Mexican crowd did as well, as the goal was scored by Mexican National Hero Rafael Marquez. But then, the rest of the half, America looked like the better team. They scored two more goals and went into halftime with a 3-1 lead. Ronaldinho and Eto'o came in in the second half, but it looked like it was going to be more of the same when a Barcelona defender, attempting to clear the ball, put it right inside his own post. An own goal. America 4 Barcelona 1. Unbelievable. It stayed this way for a while. Michael, having to get up early to go to the airport the next morning left in the 75th minute to beat traffic. What a mistake. Around the 85th minute, Ronaldinho began to make his presence known. He got the ball on the wing, dribbled thorugh about four defenders and got off a pass for a blast into the back of the net. Moments after that goal, Barcelona stole the ball back. Ronaldinho, about 15 yards outside of the box was poking it around. Then, in the blink of an eye, he turned and shot out of a cannon at the goal. He was brought down in the box, penalty. Of course he drilled it just inside the post to make the score 4-3. Not wanting to miss out on the action, Eto'o took a cross two minutes later and nodded it in. 4-4, pandemonium reigns. In stoppage time, Ronaldinho zips toward the box again, could it be? Taken down just outside the box, a free kick, could he bend it in for the most ridiculous comeback? No, it went off the America wall, and the referee called the game. 4-4. It was unbelievable. Definitely worth the four hour drive home that got me to the house at 4AM. Outstanding!