From the Press Box...

Looking live at FedEx Field from the Press Box, the catered press box with cute DC United press assistants wandering to and fro. as Chelsea and United warm up below. I'm not sure which part of that sentence is hardest to believe. Who would have guessed that what is clearly a self-indulgent blog could lead to actual press credentials. Probably the same people that were either optimistic enough or visionary enough to believe that after only 10 years of existence DC United might be able to stand toe-to-toe with one of the giants of European football...and look credible...without putting the entire team behind the ball. Anyway, since it happened, here are some random notes from the experience, Starting XI style...

1) mmmm...free food. no booze but free food is a nice nice start especially since Rob said that RFK hasn't offered that in the half.

2) surreal watching warm-ups from the press box even more so when the immortal Rob Stone wanders by.

3) start talking to the guy next to me who is covering the event for Reuters - turns out his regular beat is covering the Securities and Exchange Commission but he's subbing for this match. He seems to have a rudimentary grasp of the game but its clearly not his thing. I educated him on soccer and he got me up to speed on how to get some consulting business at the SEC - not sure how I found what I'm sure was the only other MBA in the crowd of reporters - go figure.

4) announcing the starting line-ups, it's really hard not to clap as the players are introduced but no one else is - I guess it wouldn't be considered professional.

5) 11th minute, Jaime fakes Tiago out of his shorts and gets a clear shot on Cech - really hard not to applaud - we're actually taking the play to Chelsea. Much different than the first 15 minutes of the Real/LA game.

6) Cech gives up a rebound on Jaime's shot Josh Gros flubs the attempt - where's Robert Pires when you need him?

7) 30th minute, Boswell thunders home Gomez's cross for a well-deserved goal. The crowd goes wild, the press box loses any sense of professionalism and goes wild with the crowd - wow, we're up 1-0 on Chelsea.

8) 36th minute, SWP crosses to Duffman, WOW what a volley - ladies and gentlemen, we've just seen the difference between MLS and the EPL. Talent, talent, talent. Chelsea has looked mediocre for 35 minutes and with a couple touches, they're even.

9) 40th minute, hot blond press assistant from DC United comes by and says that Don Garber - MLS Commish - will be available for questions at halftime. Could be interesting since DC United was sold today, expansion is a hot topic and San Jose looks likely to be moved very soon, why not. Got to ask him a question about how to go about closing the "quality of play" gap between MLS and the big leagues of Europe. His answer was somewhat vague but more on that in my Yanks Abroad column soon (and yes, I now have an official editorial role with YA, upcoming column about who we should include on our World Cup roster next year - if you have any thoughts, let me know). Back to Garber - apparently, United sold for "a record price" which means at least $26 million and they are bullish on the ability of the new owners (real estate developers and Kevin Payne) to get a new stadium built in Anacostia (to quote Gordon Gecko - "I have mixed feelings, its like Sir Larry Wildman going over a cliff...in my new Maserati" Anacostia? I'm having a bit of trouble seeing the soccer mom crowd getting behind taking the kids and the Denali into the hood).

10) Second Half, here come the stars of the Chelsea offense, gulp. Lamps, Robben, and the Hernanator. And we answer with Freddie. Freddie does better than expected showing that his U20 performance might have been an anomoly. Robben then shows Freddie what he needs to aspire to - great interaction with Crespo for the final goal.

11) On to the interviews...Nowak goes first and says he's proud of his boys and unleashes the following fantastic quote when asked about the disparity in payroll between United and Chelsea "Money has never played football". Fantastic. On comes Jose...wow is he tan...and BITTER, he calls his team from the first half "...the bad team..." not good news for Joe Cole, Duffman, SWP (who was sort of owned by Wilson other than his assist), Jirosik (who just stunk), and friends. Better than that, I got to ask a question of Jose, asking him where he would place DC United in English football (e.g., Premiership, Championship, Second Division) - he didn't answer specifically (didn't think he would) but he came out with "They are tactically very well organized but the players cannot be very talented…” Vintage Jose.

12) A bonus to the starting XI. On to the "mixing area" where players essentially walked a red carpet on their way to the buses and reporters could ask them to stop and comment. I got to talk to John Terry who praised United's "workrate" and "organization" and said that he enjoyed his experience - he was carrying a Redskins helmet at the time and looked like he'd be at home playing American football. Sturdy dude. Joe Cole has apparently never seen a TV camera he didn't like - he was on the line early and there late. Arjen Robben, quiet and not as frail looking in person as you might think. Talked to Brian Boswell who was still stunned from the combination of scoring against Chelsea and taking a boot to the head in the 2nd half - nice guy. Talked briefly to Lampard, but he was clearly ready to go. Talked with Freddie Adu for a couple minutes, he is as poised with the media as everyone says and seems genuinely happy to talk with anyone who wants to talk - he was definitely fired up after the experience. He clearly can't wait to get to the EPL. Finally, I attempted to get in a word with Crespo and was nearly crushed by the Spanish-speaking press who went wild the second he appeared out of the locker room.

Amazing experience, can't wait to do it again. Seeing Chelsea was nice and all but the next step in this Forrest Gump-like media experience will be to find a way to get a press pass to Highbury :-)