Real Madrid 3, DC United 0

By: jon | August 9th, 2009

Well, you kind of knew it was going to happen. For 45 minutes, United was able to frustrate Madrid, keeping compact and with great goalkeeping. Unfortunately, you can’t hold back the ocean. There is a reason they’ve spent so much money this offseason. The attacking weapons that Real Madrid have, even in reserve, are an embarrassment of riches. For those who were unable to make it, I’ll give you my personal experiences and observations of the spectacle.

My morning was spent watching the Community Shield, and as a Chelsea fan, the result was to my liking. With a nice hearty breakfast, and even more fulfilling victory over Manchester United, my fiance and I headed off into the inferno. We made it to the parking lot with minimal fanfare, which was a slight surprise after the debacle of the McCartney concert at FedEx the previous weekend. Noting a great number of United jerseys, I allowed myself to believe the numbers might be closer than I first imagined.

Not so much. As soon as we made it through the gates, it was painfully obvious that this Real Madrid team might be somewhat popular. As a guy who never really got into La Liga, I’m somewhat oblivious of the extent of this clubs global reach. Needless to say, we United fans were slightly outnumbered.

I negotiated the stupid Merch table line, and grabbed my commemorative scarf and pin as I am a whore for memorabilia. We got some overpriced junk food and went for our seats in the sun. Took some photos that I’ll post a link to down at the bottom. This brings me to my first point. This happened at the US v El Salvador game too last month, but if you don’t have a ticket in the front row, Get. Out. Of. My. Way. If you wanted to take pictures from close up, buy the ticket or get a zoom lens. The nonexistent security were no help as drunken, crude, and illegally seated (or standing on chairs) Madridistas obstructed my view for the first 30 minutes. I was…upset. After they eventually were felled by a mean looking security guard, I was treated to the fat, drunken United fans, who lamented the entire day about the number of Madrid fans, how much they had to drink, and how people should “shut up”. It was…unenjoyable.

The game was interesting enough, if only a little cagey at the beginning. The obviously overeducated Madridistas were able to detect that any time Ronaldo did anything with the ball, it was cheerworthy. And 1 mixtape-esque even. As the eventual goal onslaught came, as we all knew it would, the look on the faces of Moreno and Emilio said it all. “It’s too damn hot, and I’m too old”.

Overall, I have to say I enjoyed the AC Milan v Chelsea game more, but it was a good time. Kevin Payne said that the dual purpose of this game was to generate revenue and to draw new fans. I can pretty much assure you that goal number 2 was a failure. Goal number 1 seemed to work. I hope I’m wrong and Kyle can tell me that they’ve added x number of season tickets. I know they seemed to buy a lot of DCU gear. But after the second half where the casual fan would see one team that had their way, and another that was helpless to stop them, I can’t imagine they’ve gained a huge number on converts.

Click on this thumb upping Ronaldo for more pictures.