Harried Potters: Stoke City FC Visits O-Town

The Citrus Bowl’s aging scoreboard.

I should just show myself out for that headline, but I sat through a Stoke pre-season match in muggy swampass heat and you didn’t, so you’ll have to indulge the bad pun. The thing is, Orlando rarely gets to see any Premier League clubs, or any European clubs, for that matter. I think Bolton came here last summer, and you know I wasn’t going to go see that. But when my kid’s local soccer club offered discounted end zone tickets and a chance to get on the pitch, I figured what the hey. A rundown and amateur pix after the jump. Continue reading →

The Halftime Pint: Echigo Red Ale

One of the greater things about watching football in America is that most matches, especially those of the EPL, are early in the morning American time, giving people an excuse to daydrink. This is part of our series discussing exactly what to drink when you’re at the pub, presented by our resident homebrewer, Keith

The Beer: Echigo Red Ale, Echigo Beer Company, Niigata, Japan

The Pub: Toki Underground, in Northeast DC

What You Need to Know: Modern Amber Ale is another concoction of the Pacific Northwest. While it has cousins in Scotch Ale and Irish Red, Amber utilizes more astringent American hops rather than the mild British/European varietals. That said, the use of higher concentrations of caramel malts creates more of a balanced flavor with toffee overtones than a normal American Pale Ale.

Echigo Beer Company is a relatively young brewery in Japan, which has only been coming to microbrewing as a culture in the last decade. Prior to 1994, only a few macro-style breweries (Kirin and Sapporo most famously) were permitted to brew commercially by the Japanese government.

So, About this Beer: Pours a deep ruby/copper with a large-bubbled pale tan head. Straw and malt are heavily present in the aroma. A nice blend of malt and spice on the initial flavor exploding to a slight raisiny finish with the smallest hint of hop snap. Mouthfeel is medium, but really coats the mouth before the carbonation scrubs it away at the back end.

The Verdict: This is a delicious version of the style. It’s really finely balanced, as the sweetness isn’t cloying, and the flavors tend to explode in short bursts rather than in one mass. It’s an interesting beer, and I’m really excited to try more from Echigo.

Know Thy Classics: Bogotá, Colombia

Santa Fe fans fly a huge flag.

Hey, I’m back with a second edition of Know Thy Classics, and even though most of us are probably catching Olympic fever right now, I’d be remiss if I didn’t alert you to another great South American derby. This one isn’t the biggest derby in Colombia, but it’s the main clásico for the capital city of Bogotá: Millonarios v. Independiente Santa Fe.

A lot of South American leagues seem to be frontloading their league fixtures with derbies, perhaps to generate interest early, and Colombia is no different. These two rivals square off in Week 1 of the Liga Postobón (which is a soft drink brand, in case you’re wondering) on Sunday night. Continue reading →

Football at Fenway: A fan’s experience

Should have painted the Monstah red.

When Fenway Sports Group, the American investment company that also owns the Boston Red Sox, purchased Liverpool FC in 2010 it was clear that the storied club would be getting a lot more attention in New England.

Early on, some of that attention was negative, with many Sox fans I knew fearing the acquisition would lead to the owners neglecting their duties with the baseball team or being a little more tight with their spending.

But almost two years later, Liverpool came to visit historic Fenway Park in my adopted city, and judging by the crowd and atmosphere little of that initial wariness remains.

FSG and Liverpool did a fantastic job promoting this game and the stadium, which was adorned with some nice touches to recreate a real English football match in Liverpool, was practically full. And I’d conservatively estimate that 75% of the reported 37,169 fans at Fenway were wearing Liverpool gear and not giallorossi.

And despite losing 2-1 to the visiting Italian side, the club and stadium hosted a good match and surely won over some of their newer fans.

Some more details about the fan experience and amateur iPhone photography after the jump.

Continue reading →

Our Club Could Be Your Life: An Aston Villa Tour Diary, from the Supporters’ side

Your Author, putting a challenge in against the Sons of Ben last week

I can say I’ve played for Villa, and only be half bullshitting you. The above picture is from the first night of Aston Villa’s US Tour, at the supporters match that followed Villa’s open training. I did put on a shirt made by Macron issued to me by Aston Villa, I did participate in a game in a professional stadium, on the second best pitch I’ve ever participated in sport on. Now yes, I did have to pay for the privilege of donning the Villa badge, and no, we weren’t managed by anyone but ourselves. But I still represented Aston Villa (badly, I might add) against a team representing Philadelphia Union. But let’s start at the beginning. Continue reading →

Some Excellent News: Stiliyan Petrov in Remission

Support for Stan, in the territory of 7500 to Holte. (credit: Kenny Oldham)

As you know, Aston Villa club captain Stiliyan Petrov was diagnosed with Leukemia on March 30 of this year. Since that time, the football community has been absolutely excellent in its support for one of the true gentlemen of football, joining in Villa supporters’ standing ovations at the 19th minute of every match since the diagnosis. The tradition even carried throughout Villa’s US Tour this past weekend, with the Philadelphia Union, Chicago Fire and Portland Timbers all making announcements inviting their fans to join Villa supporters in their minute’s applause.

So yesterday, as the team flew back to Birmingham, Villa’s encouraging preseason was made even more delightful with a tweet from Karl Court, emeritus General Secretary of the Aston Villa Former Players Association. To whit:

“I have been asked by Stan to say a massive thanks to all of you as he has just received the fantastic news that he is in remission

Now, Court followed that with the caveat that, as with all cancers, Petrov would still have to be monitored carefully. But this is truly a reason to celebrate. Best wishes to Stan through the next phase of his recovery.

Row Z: MLS All-Star Game

I will eat a cheese steak in honor of this game.

It’s finally here. The point in the MLS season when everybody takes a short, pointless break so the league’s best players can have a friendly against an EPL club in preseason form. This year, the opponent is Chelsea, who I am begrudgingly obliged to remind you are champions of Europe.

Now, if I had my druthers, I’d do away with this nonsense and just keep the league going. But that will never happen since this game does manage to generate revenue for the league, and you can’t say no to that, right? Besides, these games have often been pretty entertaining. More thoughts after the jump. Continue reading →

Row Z: USWNT in Glasgow

Excellent.

The Games of the XXX Olympiad (not pr0n… yet) are underway as we speak with the start of the women’s soccer tournament. The Team GB women (which may feature the Spice Girls for all I know) take on the Kiwi girls from New Zealand while we all wait for the main course, USWNT v France at high noon. I know next to nothing about women’s soccer, but I’m guessing we can beat the Frenchies.

After that, there’s Japan v Canada, Brazil v Cameroon, Sweden v South Africa, and Colombia v North Korea. You can watch all of it live on TV and here.

USWNT Parties in the USA

There are few things that sound worse than a Miley Cyrus song, but when you add in the USWNT it makes things better. our favorite American ladies are preparing to win another gold medal in London, and they had some spare time on their hands. Set to the vomit-inducing pop tune, this may be the best music video I’ve ever seen. Enjoy

The Halftime Pint: Arcobräu Zwickelbier

The Beer: Arcobrau Zwickelbier, Arcobräu Gräfliches Brauhaus, Moos, Germany

The Pub: Bridgewater’s Pub, 30th Street Station, Philadelphia, PA

What You Need to Know: Arcobrau in its current incarnation was founded in 1789, from the foundations of the von Preysing castle brewery in Moos, which burned down (with the rest of the castle) in 1619. The von Preysing family finally consolidated their beers under the Arcobrau name in 1960.