An Eejit Abroad

Forge 4-3 Atletico Ottawa Att: 6,917 Great entertainment in the Canadian Premier League and also undoubtedly the two worst full-time football teams I’ve ever seen. A goal in the first 20 seconds, an own goal from a passback, a scrap, constant defensive and goalkeeping mistakes, a cracking free-kick put into the top corner. Great stuff. They play in the Hamilton Tiger-Cats Canadian Football stadium which is far too big for them so only one stand is opened for their games other than for people willing to pay for the posh seats. It just happens that the stand they decided to open for normal folk is in the baking sun. Bizarre decision for a summer league. Decent enough place to watch football otherwise.

Richmond Kickers 0-1 Forward Madison; USL League 1; Att: 4,902 Some third tier football in the former capital of the Confederacy. Richmond were formed in the 90s and have a pretty decent history by American standards, including winning the national US Open Cup back in 1995. Richmond is quite a big football town - it has the highest local tv ratings for the English/Saudi/Emirati Premier League in the US. Forward Madison, from Wisconsin, were formed just a few years ago and have a flamingo on their crest because the official bird of their city is the lawn flamingo, apparently. The football was dire so there's not much to be said about that - Madison scored in the second half but both teams struggled in the final third throughout. Good crowd though for that level in a quite bizarre stadium setup with a shut big stand on one side of the pitch and everyone stuffed into an Italian style curved stand on the other sideline. Nice little setup with local breweries and food trucks.. It was Pride Night at the club too so there was a bunch of community stuff going on around that. Atmosphere was poor although there was a small band of traveling Madison supporters in front of me who tried to get a very American-y atmosphere going. It can't be easy or cheap to get from Madison to Richmond so fair play to them. Richmond Greyhound Bus Station is hellish and is only beaten by Times Square, Atlanta Greyhound Station and the State of Florida in the worst place in America stakes. Richmond itself is an interesting little city and well worth a visit.

South Melbourne 5-1 Altona Magic Lovely setting for some NPL Victoria football. Altona went down to 10 men just before halftime with the score at 1-1 and collapsed in the second half. First time I’ve ever seen a winger with bleached hair taking long throws on both touch lines. South Melbourne used to be called Hellas and have historic links with the Greek community in Melbourne. They were named the Oceania team of the century and used to be one of the bigger clubs in the country pre-A League. Altona is also known as Vardar, after the Skopje club of the same name, and has historic links to migrants from the country now known as North Macedonia. Good few hundred people there. Nice little cafe in the stand. Stadium is probably what Meadowbank could have been like if they’d put any thought into it at all.

Melbourne Victory 0-1 Brisbane Roar Att: 6,127 As good an advert for relegation in football as you can get as two poor teams with nothing to play for do very little for 90+ minutes in their last game of the season. Pretty dead atmosphere too in a mostly empty ground. Nice little stadium though and all the sport venues in that part of town make for an interesting walk. Entertainment provided by a handful of Brisbane fans to my left delighted to see a rare win and an invasion of seagulls. Didn’t notice much in the way of Scottish links though Celtic legend Stefan Scepovic was playing for Brisbane.

San Francisco Italian Athletic Club 0-0 San Francisco Glens; 23/04/23 Two teams that wanted to play football the right way but didn’t quite have the quality. Sometimes you just need to play it long. But a lovely day for football down at the Beach Chalet pitches in Golden Gate Park, 100 yards from the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco. Beautiful setting and not often you wander past bison to get to a game. Apparently the San Francisco Football Soccer League is the oldest league in the US in continual existence - it was formed in 1902. SFIAC won the US Open Cup, America’s national cup competition, back in the 70s. Glens also have a semi-professional team which plays in the USL League 2 (US fourth tier). Probably about a dozen people watching.

Austin FC 2-0 Violette; 14/03/23 Attendance: 20,738 One of the biggest shocks in CONCACAF club football history down in Texas as Austin drop out of the Champions League at the hands of Haitian team Violette. Violette had won the first leg 3-0 in the Dominican Republic despite not having played a domestic game for a long time due to the ongoing issues in Haiti. They also weren't able to get visas for many of their team for the US so had to bring in players from the US lower leagues on short-term contracts. They've drawn Mexican side Leon in the next round. Just the 35 shots on goal for Austin on the night but their final ball and finishing was atrocious. Some of the most outrageous time wasting of all time from Violette which was a good laugh. Cracking little stadium and a good atmosphere. Usual American issues with transport to and from the game. Was bought a Bud Light and tried not to take it as an insult.

I went to an FC Tokyo game during my own backpacking trip over in that part of the world in 2017. You could get tickets at a variety of newsagent type shops, which I think tends to be what people are advised to do, or at the gate but due to my worry around communicating/reading Japanese I ended up getting a ticket through one of their official online partners - I believe it was Stubhub at the time. I'd definitely recommend a trip to FC Tokyo to anybody thinking about visiting them. They're not one of the historically big names but the stadium was easy to get to on the subway and there was a good atmosphere with a pretty big supporters section behind one of the goals. Not the best stadium in the world but not the worst either. Tokyo Verde in the second tier play there too. I found it all to be pretty laidback. I've heard there's a bit of nativism at some clubs, particularly Urawa, but Tokyo didn't seem to have that issue.

DC United 3-2 Toronto; 25/02/23 Att: 17,397 Very decent game to kick-off the new MLS season in the capital of the land of the free. Wayne Rooney's DC United perhaps just about deserved the win against a Toronto team with two Euro 2020 winners in Insigne and Bernadeschi. DC United scored two late goals to win the game including a winner in the 98th minute. Hibernian legend Victor Palsson provided the night's Scottish link and had a relatively solid game in the DC United defence. Decent atmosphere provided by the supporters section and there has been a couple of minor updates during the break to what is a cracking little stadium. $29 for the ticket with the obligatory extra $10 of Ticketmaster fees taking it up to $39 for the cheapest seats. $14 for a tin of Heineken, which is seen as something almost exotic round these parts. There's almost nowhere that does hard copies of tickets in the US nowadays in any major sport, which is a shame.

Long Island City (Hunters Point and essentially Dutch Kills nowadays too is an interesting area so if you get a good deal then it's not a bad place to stay but I wouldn't say there's anything particularly special about it. Most of it is new development/redevelopment and a lot of the buildings have been built or renovated recently so there's not too much of a community thing going on really. Some interesting bars and Court Square Diner is a cracker if you're into the whole old school Yank imagery but I'd say that tourists are always better staying in Manhattan just because you have more easy access to transport. Queens in particular can be a bit of a nuisance if you're trying to get anywhere easily. I'd say the same thing about Williamsburg though a lot of it is gentrification central so there's a lot more to do in a small area, particularly when it comes to bars and restaurants. A lot of decent music venues in Williamsburg and Bushwick too. I'd recommend people try out the ferry as a public transport option if they're staying somewhere along either side of the East River, including in LIC or Williamsburg. A great way to see the city and you can get your tickets easily on the NYC Ferry phone app. They've just put the price up to $4, which is a shame, but still decent value and only $1.25 more than the Subway. In terms of "local" areas to visit outside of Manhattan, Astoria in Queens is quite an interesting place to grab lunch or dinner at one of the Greek places. Anywhere between Flatbush Avenue and the BQE north of Prospect Park in Brooklyn is pretty tourist-friendly for wandering about nowadays too. A lot of people wander around Brooklyn Heights, which is a posh area of town with a lot of the old brownstones.

Gala Fairydean Rovers 1-0 Cumbernauld Colts, 28/01/23; Att: 202 A pretty decent game between two teams in the bottom half of the Lowland League. This was the first Fairydean league game I'd seen since before the Lowland League came about and the first since they re-added the Rovers to their name. Both teams tried to play football and Fairydean probably should have won by more in the end. Interesting to see Danny Galbraith back at Fairydean too. Decent little setup at the ground and the Eildons provided a nice backdrop on a crisp and clear day. I'd planned to pop into the bar beforehand but ended up catching the first half of Gala Hotspur 2-1 Hawick United (Borders Amateurs Division B) up the road instead. There's not a lot of decent options for pubs in Gala nowadays unfortunately.

Hibernian 0-3 Heart of Midlothian, 22/01/23; Att: 18,622 Went to my first Edinburgh Derby a couple of weeks back and what was my first time at Easter Road in the best part of a decade. I'm never in Edinburgh anymore so quite enjoyed the walk down to Easter Road - with a couple of stops at the Waterloo Bar and the Conan Doyle and a look in the new St James' Centre. I was a bit concerned about the small crowds on London Road but there was a pretty decent home crowd by the time I got to Albion Road and in the ground, at least until Hearts got their second. Nothing really to add to everything that has already been said about the game itself. The police diversions for Hibs fans after the game, I assume with the idea being that they ensure Hearts fans don't have to wait in the ground, are as pointless as any I've seen at a derby.

DCFC 0-1 NoVa FC, US Open Cup Att: ~75 Walked right past a lovely grass pitch next to Georgetown University in Washington D.C. to get to an identikit astroturf multisport pitch for DCFC's (DC Premier League; tier 6) tie against NoVa FC (Eastern Premier Soccer League; tier 6 - I think) in the US Open Cup, the American national cup competition which was first played back in 1914. This game was part of the third qualifying round for the 2023 iteration of the tournament and NoVa, based in Leesburg about 40 miles northwest of Washington, will now go into a fourth and final qualifying round for a chance to enter the tournament proper next spring. It's a great little tournament in the early rounds, with a really interesting history and lots of clubs that can trace their roots back to various waves of immigration, so obviously the soccer powers that be seem to continually be trying to ruin it for the benefit of the only thing that matters in US club football, MLS. Game was decent enough despite the awful surface at Jelleff Recreation Center, which is round the corner from Dumbarton Oaks and about a ten minute walk from the British Embassy. DCFC probably unlucky to lose on the night.

Real Betis 3-0 HJK Helsinki, Europa League Att: 35,384 A pretty straightforward win for Real Betis who had already qualified for the knockout rounds. Betis scored a screamer early on but HJK looked competitive and performed impressively until the home side got their second late in the first half. The home side brought on a number of their big hitters in the second half and should have really scored more than three. The big disappointment of the day was missing out on seeing Joaquin, who was out injured. Probably the last opportunity to see him before he retires as he is now 41 - incredible to think he was 21 when Championship Manager 4 came out. The Estadio Benito Villamarin is a big concrete lump from the outside but a fantastic stadium from the inside. It is about a 45 minute walk from the Plaza de Espana through a pretty affluent area of Seville. There's not a whole lot of options for food and drink around the stadium so I ended up getting a hotdog from a van behind the Gol Sur which was decorated in Legion Espanola posters - Betis are definitely the stauncher of the two big clubs in Seville. My broken Spanish became a bit less expansive when I noticed the decor but they only asked for a couple of Euros and not Gibraltar. The atmosphere in the ground was a bit disappointing but not too surprising considering the game was meaningless. The ground erupted a few times when songs that were obviously fan favourites were started but otherwise the home support was pretty muted. HJK brought around 400 and they sang non-stop from kickoff. A little known Scottish referee called "Willie Collum" held the whistle for this one. He didn't have a bad game. Conor Hazard of Celtic was in goals for HJK and had a decent game despite the score. It'll be interesting to see where he ends up in January as the Finnish season is now finnished. Scottish Premiership clubs with goalkeeping struggles will surely be having a think about him.

First off, I've been lurking in this thread for years and it is very much one of the best places on the internet. Thanks to all that have provided great content over the years - particularly, as somebody who has been living abroad for quite a while now, those posting their experiences at the lower tier and non-league grounds back home. Provides me with something as close to sentimentality as I'm likely to get. Osasuna 2-0 Real Valladolid, La Liga Att: 19,249 Got into Pamplona about 45 minutes before the match and really struggled to get a taxi to the stadium which is a good hour walk from the station. Managed to get there with a couple of minutes to spare thanks to a driver without much concern for traffic lights. The stadium itself is a cracking new build. Had bought tickets in advance for the upper tier which came it at €45 each so not the cheapest. We were sat above the Osasuna ultras and there was a cracking atmosphere all game. Valladolid seemed to have sold out the away end - quite unusual for Spain - but you wouldn't have known they were there if it wasn't for the purple catching your eye constantly. There was the usual coating of nut shells in the stands and half-time sandwiches. A great experience all in. Osasuna are a good side this year - currently sitting 5th - and dominated the game. An early penalty followed by a quick second goal pretty much killed off the game in the first half. The home side should have won more convincingly but squandered plenty of chances. The stadium is about a half hour walk from the historic centre of Pamplona. It isn't the most spectacular town on the peninsula - although I'm sure the bull run is very impressive in its own way - but the little bars in the winding old streets away from the main square are as good a place to have a few Sunday evening drinks as anywhere. Most people were taking their drinks and standing on the street which made for a nice atmosphere. I managed to avoid all the Americans looking to walk in the footsteps of Hemingway too which was a great relief.