Josh Ouellette
By Josh Ouellette
Boy, am I a happy Hammer! West Ham United came from being down 2-1 to beat Manchester United 3-2 in the final-ever match at the Boleyn Ground to cap off the 112-year history of the historic stadium in perfect fashion.
I am not ashamed to admit that I had a tear in my eye as the final whistle was blown and the celebration could begin.
The worst part is there is one more match to play this season and if things fall in West Ham’s favor the club could finish fifth in the Premier League and head into the new, and much larger, Olympic Stadium with a spot in the Europa League. Which don’t get me wrong, it would be fantastic for a West Ham team most didn’t even expect to finish in the top half of the table. But how do you get up to play, or cheer for that matter, this weekend after what just happened on a very emotional night in East London.
I’ll stop my ranting and raving for the Irons now.
“A page turner…I’m sorry it’s over! Is a sequel in the works?”
“Torosian does for high school football what Hemingway did for the Spanish Civil War…compelling look beyond the scoreboard and into the lives of players…”
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Joe Torosian’s high school football novel is available through Amazon.com –click pic–
(Cover by Pat Cherry www.blackheartart.com)
But for those who don’t follow the beautiful game, or just don’t like soccer in general, let me put this all in perspective. This game was West Ham’s final match at Upton Park after the ground first opened in 1904, which would be like if the Chicago Cubs left the iconic Wrigley Field for a newer and better stadium. And in fact, the Boleyn Ground is 10 years older than Wrigley, which first opened as Weeghman Park in 1914. Maybe a more fitting example is when the New York Yankees left old the Yankees Stadium for the new one across the street… with the exception that West Ham is moving a few miles down the road to the same stadium that hosted the events of the London 2012 Olympics.
Okay I lied, I’m still talking about West Ham, but I can’t help myself. In a Barclays Premier League season that saw a 5,000-to-1 odds champion in Leicester City, having West Ham beat the most popular football club in the world to send off one of the United Kingdom’s oldest venues seems like a close second in my eyes.
This would be like Arroyo beating Mater Dei in the final-ever game at B.L. Bergstrom Stadium. Or like UCLA beating Alabama in the finale at the Rose Bowl.
While American soccer stadiums don’t have this kind of gravitas yet, I think I can see a time when a moment like this comes for a club like the Columbus Crew or Sporting Kansas City that sell out their home games at the 20,000-seat and under soccer-specific stadiums of Mapfre Park and Children’s Mercy Park, respectively, with ease.
There’s the trigger word. Soccer-specific stadium. And while the StubHub Center is technically a soccer-specific venue and the second largest in the MLS behind Toronto’s BMO Field, it is hard to see the team moving into a bigger stadium in the Los Angeles area, especially with the newly formed LAFC expected to break grounds on a soccer-specific stadium in the near future. So Galaxy fans will probably never have a similar moment, at least in my lifetime.
It’s hard to compare a moment like what happened tonight at Upton Park to American soccer, maybe not on the National Team level, but definitely, when relating to the MLS. The United States has football, baseball, and basketball that all come before soccer in the pecking order, and I would argue the MLS has overtaken the NHL in popularity in recent years before anyone starts that conversation.
So in a country that just has football (soccer), a day like this is as big, if not bigger, than when the Yankees walked across the street, or if Wrigley’s lights ever go out one last time. It was just awesome to be a fan and even though I was sitting thousands of miles away… a part of history.
Catching up with the Galaxy: LA had a pretty smooth win over the New England Revolution on Mother’s Day. Robbie Keane’s first half brace surrounding yet another Gio dos Santos goal saw the Galaxy jump out to a 3-0 lead and a decently comfortable 4-2 win over the Revs despite two second-half goals in less than five minutes from New England. Steven Gerrard, on for Keane for the final 30 minutes, sealed the win with his stoppage time goal to round out the scoring and mark a nice return from a training injury for the Galaxy’s best midfield man.
It was good to see Keane on the StubHub pitch again (back from an early season knee surgery). He proved why he’s a Galaxy favorite by being in the right place at the right time twice. And while the offense looked a little interrupted by his return, once everything settled Bruce Arena’s team looked solid again.
It’s almost hard to see where Nigel de Jong and Gerrard will fit into the starting XI with the run that LA has been on. Which is a good problem to have if you’re a Galaxy fan as the team sits second in the Western Conference standings, just two points behind the Colorado Rapids with a game in hand.
I’ll be very intrigued to see how Arena plays his side in this week’s away match vs. the Philadelphia Union tomorrow, and even more so in the upcoming California Clasico vs. the San Jose Earthquakes at the StubHub Center on Sunday, May 22.
Then again… I’m just joshing.
Josh Ouellette is a self-proclaimed lover of the Beautiful Game who feverously supports West Ham United (Premier League) and the LA Galaxy (MLS). His thoughts and opinions are his own and if you have any thoughts on his opinions he can be reached via Twitter (@JoshoYouKnow).
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