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The Flash lost 2-1 in Tijuana tonight, losing on an aggregate of 4-1, and Chivas Tijuana won the inaugural Border Cup '98.
Well, what a night! The most interesting part for me was finding the place! I actually went to the Flash offices this afternoon to ask about transportation, and they told me they were all taking a bus (team and office staff) leaving the Flash stadium at 4:00PM. I couldn't go at that time, because my wife doesn't get off work until 5:30, so I asked for a map to the place. I was given a rough sketch that the Flash got faxed to them by Chivas Tijuana. That map turned out to be of very little help! I ended up driving around this big mountain, with my wife telling me every two minutes 'why don't we stop and ask directions?' Well, I was NEVER going to give in to that! But, as it was already 7:15 and I believed the game was going to start at 7:30, I did what I thought I would never do, and asked directions. I found a policeman, and asked, and of course he acted like it was the easiest place in the world to find, and why did I need to ask! (at least that's how I thought he sounded. My wife had the 'I told you so' look on her face!) So finally, we found the place, and realized we really weren't that far away to begin with. We bought our tickets and walked in at precisely 7:30.
Only to find out that the game started at 7:00! We got to see the last few minutes of the first half as we were finding our seats. There weren't assigned seats, it was general admission, but I was looking for at least one other familiar face in the crowd to sit next to. I had on my bright yellow (er, *gold!*) THUNDER shirt on, and my Flash cap. So a big fat white guy like me really stands out! Finally I saw some other Flash office people, and we settled next to them. The stadium is really a baseball stadium. And the soccer field is kind of far away from the stands. One endline runs along what would be the first base line. So midfield is pretty far along the "third base side" stands. The stadium itself is a concrete structure, and there are only seats on the one side of the field. The "outfield" is just a dirt slope, no seating. I'd guess total capacity to be about 5,000 or 6,000. The field itself looks to be nice and wide, about 72 yards I would guess. Certainly not like the bowling alley we play in at Southwestern College.
I would guess there were about 1,500 or so people there. Almost all were VERY boisterous! Reminded me of Area 51 at the Galaxy games! Some had brought bullhorns, and were shouting out every swear word I've ever learned in Spanish, and then some! There was absolutely no shame or anything in yelling anything and everything that came into their heads! Others brought drums, and there were at least two sirens that were very loud! As loud as a real firetruck would have, or louder! I didn't bring any drums or airhorns like I have at the home games, because I wanted to keep a relatively low profile. Oh, and I can't forget. Everyone's favorite plastic horns were in abundance! They were selling them in the red, white and blue colors of Chivas Tijuana, and many kids had them. Another thing that was very popular were flags with the team logo/crest on them. It looked pretty nice when everyone waved them. And to further add to the atmosphere, the PA did, indeed, play some music during the course of play! It wasn't the jock rock we hear at NBA or some MLS games, it was mainly the Chivas team song, as well as stuff like the Ricky Martin song from the World Cup, "The Cup of Life," and various other songs. So it wasn't purely without canned music, as I'm sure many soccer "purists" would love to have. Besides, the fan's shouting in the stands was much more interesting!
Fourth paragraph, and I haven't even spoken about the game itself! As I said, I didn't get to see much of the first half. When I sat down and asked what the score was, they told me it was already 1-1. There's no scoreboard in this stadium, so no score is displayed anywhere, nor is any clock displayed anywhere. So the game just appears to go, until the ref decides it's time. Guess that's the way soccer has been played for a long time! I think there are many European stadium that don't have clocks or scoreboards either. When the Flash came out in the second half, I noticed some of the players looked different. I mean, I was kind of far back from the field, so when I caught a glance at their numbers, some of the players didn't look like they matched what their number said. Turns out that many of the Flash starters were sitting out this game, and others took their place. Not a lot, but there were at least two I recognized as out of place. Flash keeper Joe Cannon actually was playing forward with a different shirt on. And you know what, he didn't look too bad up there! He was able to win some physical challenges! Another I recognized was the assistant coach "Papo" Santos, who actually was out there playing too.
After the game I drifted down towards the Flash "dugout" and saw Kevin Legg in street clothes. He saw me and smiled and said "don't worry about this game. We're concentrating on the league. That's why a lot of us didn't play." I'm certainly not disappointed by this. I knew it would take a huge effort to overcome the 2-0 deficit from the first game, so I didn't think we were going to win this Border Cup. (By the way, it was a pretty nice trophy!) The Flash are in first place in the Pacific division, so the league should be a priority. So hey, if they want to have some fun, I'm all for it! The game itself wasn't that important when looking at the big picture. I was more fascinated by the whole trip down there and the experience. I know the Flash will really concentrate and stay competitive in the league. So it's OK by me!
Still, the game was rather interesting. The second half saw the Flash hold the ball well for periods of time. It was nice to see how they played on a wide field, with the ability to switch sides effectively, and attack from the wings instead of only up the middle. Chivas scored their second goal late in the half off of a good counter attack. Just before that the fans were getting upset with their team, and the head coach. The kept yelling for him to make a change, as it was pretty clear the Flash were handling possession. I think I'd like to come back to see some Chivas Tijuana games during the regular season, and see how they make out. I was also thinking, if they ever get promoted to the top division in Mexico, I can't imagine big clubs like America or Guadalajara playing in this stadium. But we'll see!
This game was more fun for the experience, and to see different players play. Now we can get back to the business of holding on to first place, against the US Pro 40 Select on Saturday!
-Eric Bekins-
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