Record Crowd Packs Rose Bowl as Galaxy Faces Euro Champs
By Pasadena Independent
Published: Wednesday, August 5th, 2009
Cheers and Jeers for Beckham at Bowl
In England and so many other countries in the world, football (a.k.a. soccer) is almost a religion. To purists, in fact, it would be considered sacrilege to call it anything but football. If Saturday’s showing at the Rose Bowl is any measure to go by, the tide may finally be turning for the popularity of the sport here in the US.
Just look at the past couple of weeks in Pasadena, for example. Two major games, bringing record numbers of fans to watch Chelsea and Inter Milan two weeks ago and just last weekend to see Beckham and LA Galaxy vs. Barcelona. With over 93,000 fans in attendance, the game was the largest attendance for a soccer game in the United States since the 1994 Word Cup.
All eyes, cameras and hopes (as well as a bob or two bet) were on England’s extremely well-compensated David Beckham Saturday night. Beckham has been the draw for Los Angeles Galaxy for some time now. And the famous footballer didn’t disappoint loyal fans on Saturday at the Rose Bowl.
David Beckham scored one of his masterful free kicks Saturday night in first half of the match against Barcelona. The crowd of 90,000 plus fans at the Rose Bowl was predominately pro-Barcelona and, in fact, Beckham got more than his fair share of boos and jeers when in possession of the ball. The celebrity soccer star seemed to shrug it off his shoulders unlike the last time a fan heckled him—Beckham tried to have a heckler removed from the game permanently after he allegedly upset the star player.
However, Beckham’s fanciful footwork, amazing speed, technique, and agility still weren’t a match for Barcelona’s main attraction.
The real stars of the night were Pedro Rodriguez and Jeffren Suarez of Barcelona who scored the goals that defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy in a match that attracted record crowds. Organizers say that this was the biggest crowd the Rose Bowl has seen since 1994 world cup.
“A great night for American soccer,” was the way Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber described FC Barcelona’s game at the Rose Bowl.
Barcelona’s tour of the USA has got off to an astounding start, and the man who runs the Major League Soccer has recognized that it was an exceptional day for world soccer in the US. Don Garber was delighted with the huge crowd (93,137) that watched the Catalans (The Catalans are the native inhabitants of the former principality of Catalonia which was once a commercially flourishing and independent political entity and is now divided into the provinces of Barcelona, Tarragona, Lerida and Gerona.)
Exceptional day indeed – Don Gaber is convinced that events like Saturday’s can only help with the promotion of soccer in this country, which needs new blood, especially since the Beckham phenomenon has seemingly passed its expiration date.
The match was the first in Barcelona’s three-game tour of the United States.
Story and Photo by Terry Miller
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