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Best and worst soccer experience


Alberto7

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Thought I'd start a new post on soccer games seen live(seeing as how others are going on and on about old British TV shows;)and the like).

What has been you best live soccer experience and your worst. I am talking about games that you attended, not games you saw on TV. It could be meeting a player or a terrific play or a memorable game.

My best soccer experience: A tie between

1) Interviewing Pat Onstad (A true gentleman)after a Rhinos-Impact game in 2002.

and

2) Seeing the Canadian Olympic team beat Mexico 4-0 in the pouring rain in Ottawa in Aug. 1990(Pesch and Watson were on that team).

My worst soccer experience:

Watching the Ottawa Intrepid tie the Kitchener Spirit 0-0 on the concrete-like surface of Landsdowne park in front of 789 spectators! BTW, this was the first pro soccer game I ever attended. What a horrible introduction to pro soccer[xx(]

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There are many games that were absolutely amazing experiences. being of Dutch extraction, Canada-Holland at Varsity in 1994 and watching Johann Cruyff play against the Blizzard with the Washington Diplomats in the early 80s rank high.

When I think of the absolute soccer experience, I think of the game I attended between Brazil and Sweden in the preliminary round of the World Cup Final in 1994 at the Detroit Silverdome. I really don't remember much about the game itself. The crowd noise was just unbelievable. With it being a first round game both countries had their supporters at full strength. With the enclosed stadium, it had the feel of the Thunderdome in the last Mad Max Movie... Full Sections of Swedish fans hexing the opposition and the constant beat of the Brazilian drums indoors... The ultimate experience...

Worst Soccer experience was witnessing a referee assault at an over-35 tournament I participated in.. What can be so important to justify that action in an Over-35 tournament? No one was seriously hurt but still...

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Well, since I'm old and my memory is fading I'm going to go with later experiences.

Best experience: Vancouver Whitecaps vs San Diego Flash, second leg of the second round playoff match 2001. The Whitecaps had travelled to San Diego for the first game, total goals series and lost 2-0 putting them hugely behind the 8 ball as San Diego was a very good team. Still 6782 showed up to see what the Whitecaps could do, and the atmosphere was brilliant. The Whitecaps came out and destroyed San Diego 4-1 winning the series. There was a pitch invasion after the final whistle (everyone not just southsiders) and then there was much singing and chanting while dancing on the players benches. If you weren't there it is hard to describe, but it was great, and all for an A-League game.

Worst experience would have to be the nexr season at a Whitecaps womens match, where some southsiders tried to get into the game as they do at the mens matches, only to be heckled and told to sit down by losers sitting in the southside who had no clue what the southside area was set up for. It was so bad that I have rarely gone back to watch womens matches since.

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Trip down memmory lane.

All the CSL matchs at Pan-Am stadium were great experiences for me and geez we won precious few those days. Sure the turf was real but the pitch was smaller and never in very good shape.

Absolutely best experience had to have been the Bronze medal match at the Pan-Am Games in '99 against the USA. Didn't have tickets, couldn't get tickets, but I just had to get in. Know WSC pretty good so I figured what the hell. If no one will scalp me a pair I'll just climb the fence. Wee Elf wasn't very keen on the idea but off we went anyway. (Worse comes to worse she could probably whine her way past security).

So anyway we're at the gate, I'm about to shout out "Buying tickets!" when this lady from Alberta comes up to us asking if we're looking for seats. Yeah says I! Will take them! How much I owe you?

Nothing. Enjoy says she.

Well, fu'k me! Sixty bucks more for beer.

Anyway the Yanks had the day but it was a high energy affair for sure. Put the fear of God into them in the final ten when we scrambled one back with 10 minutes to go. Yanks had quite the team, a few lads now in MLS and Europe were at that tourny. Dwayne De Rosario stood out though. Maybe you've heard of him.

Worse experience was a few years earlier (eight or nine) at Winnipeg Stadium. Fury-2 '86s-1 I believe with Vancouvers two season undefeated streak twelve minutes away from ending. Fury full marks for the lead in an entertaining and offensive affair. Nice crowd, close to 6,000 paying full price and everyone on the edge of their seats when on loan from Vancouver center half Steve Miller (or was it Hughes?) heads in a non-threatening cross for an own goal. Agony. Pure agony. Don't think Miller got off the plastic for 5 minutes. Still hurts.

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Best- seeing Simon keith play in a game for Victoria in the 80's before he had a heart transplant (he was one of the best canadian players i've ever seen in my life!).

Worst-watching some of the games canada was not in during the u20 world cup qualifying in Victoria a couple of years ago. I can't believe how cold that stadium at uvic can get! Was afraid my sac was gonna freeze to my chair!

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Best experience/s (tie):

Canada 1, Costa Rica 0 - at Boston Gold Cup 2003. Some experience winning in a crowd of 14,000+ Costa Ricans and only about 25 of us. Seeing Lars and Kevin McKenna acknowledge our group after the win; and Winnipeg Fury 2, Calgary Kickers 1 in Winnipeg Stadium 1988 - Western Semi-final. Billy Domazetis was amazing. Astroturf was embarassing.

Worst: Winnipeg Fury 0, North York Rockets 5 (1992); it was pouring, it was 3-0 at halftime and NY kept on scoring. Fury won CSL championship 2 months later. But that game was the turning point as the Fury later got Nocita and Ian Carter from Hamilton Steelers, providing more confidence. Onstad was the keeper!

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quote:Originally posted by Krammerhead

Well, since I'm old and my memory is fading I'm going to go with later experiences.

Best experience: Vancouver Whitecaps vs San Diego Flash, second leg of the second round playoff match 2001. The Whitecaps had travelled to San Diego for the first game, total goals series and lost 2-0 putting them hugely behind the 8 ball as San Diego was a very good team. Still 6782 showed up to see what the Whitecaps could do, and the atmosphere was brilliant. The Whitecaps came out and destroyed San Diego 4-1 winning the series. There was a pitch invasion after the final whistle (everyone not just southsiders) and then there was much singing and chanting while dancing on the players benches. If you weren't there it is hard to describe, but it was great, and all for an A-League game.

Worst experience would have to be the nexr season at a Whitecaps womens match, where some southsiders tried to get into the game as they do at the mens matches, only to be heckled and told to sit down by losers sitting in the southside who had no clue what the southside area was set up for. It was so bad that I have rarely gone back to watch womens matches since.

I have to agree with you on the San Diego game.What was great about it was that when the Caps were winning 3-1 the aggregate was 3-3 which meant that San Diego would win the tie breaker based on away goals.The Sulentic goal that found it's way through the arms of the San Diego keepers hands with just a minute left in the game,just a couple of yards from the Southside faithful,was awsome.Will we ever see anything like that again?

The away playoff match against Seattle a year later was just as great.

The beating the Caps put on the Sounders,scoring almost at will made us all feel that we were destined for the cup.Too bad it was at their terrible stadium.

It seems that all my worst moments are when Canada get eliminated from World Cup Qualifying.If you ask my friends and family I'm not too much fun to be with after elimanation.In 97 Vancouver hosted 3 qualifying matches at Swangard during the final round.We tied Jamaica and El Salvador nil nil and lost 3 nil to the USA.In the El Salvador match Pesch gets tossed after being hacked and manhandled by the El Salvadoran defenders all game long and the ref ignoring it.He looked so dangerous in that game.He was just flying.It all came to a sudden end when he gets a red for pushing the corner flag into an El Salvador player and that player going over like he was shot.Graham Legggets call(I was there but I also taped the game)was so bang on, calling the El Salvador players'actions disgraceful.

In the USA match we lost 3 nil and the Americans booked their tickets to France.Sams Army was their celebrating and we went home having to wait another 4 years.The feeling of knowing that we were once superior to the States and that they had just made it to their 3rd staight World Cup was gut wrenching.

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  • 1 month later...

Red Hat and Cheeta, I too was a follower of the Fury back in the day, and I remember both occasions you speak of. After that drubbing to North York, the Fury did pick up two players, they were Ian Carter and Pat Onstad. Tony Nocita was already with the team,from Hamilton, from the start of the season. As for the game you speak of, Cheeta, it was in '89 and I am 100 percent sure that the player that scored the own goal was Ian McLean. In fact, I think Winnipeg was up 1-0 late in the second half against Vancouver, and he scored two OG's that were almost identical. One with the head, one with the chest. And he also had an OG in a 2-1 loss in Vancouver earlier in the season. Painful to remember.

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Worst:

Easy choice: Real Madrid v As Roma at Giants Stadium, summer 2002. Talk about a totally disorganized event. They had a grand-total of 3 buses in New York ready to take people to New Jersey for the game! Needless to say, 70,000 people don't quite fit in 3 buses so there was a minor problem. Many people didn't arrive until around the 80th minute. Then the game was horrible (0-0 snoozer). And it took 2+ hours just to get out of the parking-lot after the game!

Best:

Easy choice again: Portugal v England, Euro 2004 quarterfinal.

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Best:

Champions League Ajax/Celtic in Amsterdam Arena. My first experience with Big Time soccer. I hope I never see that many riot cops again.

Close runner up would be Canada/Mexico in Edmonton in '97. I was high on Mushrooms and it was amazing. Mexico tied it in injury time which burst the bubble a little. And eventhough it was a farce, the first trip to Winnipeg (Cuba) was part of the funnest 72 hours I ever had.

Worst:

Seeing the first Calgary Storm game a couple of years ago. It was revolting. I was really looking forward to pro soccer in Calgary. I tried to get a bunch of season passes, but was told that they were not set up to do that(?!). There was a decent turn out, but no one was there to watch the game. Parents just let there kids run loose, so the area between the field and the bleachers had 200 little kids running around, screaming and jumping on the track and field equipment. The girls team that were supposed to be volunteering to help continued to insult anyone who showed any enthusiasm all game. The men were all in the beer tent, so the bleachers were full of soccer moms. ("We found this buffet the other day and they had THREE kinds of potatoes""Oh where was that""It is in the North west by the fabric store that carries the good chiffon""oh yes by Spa Lady, and how much was it?""It was only $8.95 and you could take all the bread you wanted" ect ect for 90 minutes.)

I will never see a pro soccer game in Calgary ever again.

Booking my tickets (without cancellation insurance) to the 'World Club Cup' in Madrid only for it to be cancelled really really pissed me off. And watching Canada getting eliminated from the World Cup by Trinidad was also disembiggening.

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Have to agree with currentchamp on this one.

Born and raised in england and emmigrated a couple of years ago to calgary.

I followed my home town team through thick and thin and loved going to games, so when i came to Calgary i thought "well Calgary has a team ill go there" but it was disaster.shame because it didnt matter how the team played because im used to losing but would of been ok if there was at least a little passion shown.

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Best: Going down to Seattle on the Whitecaps' supporters bus for the second leg of the 2002 Western Conference finals. Vancouver had won the first match at Swangard 2-0. Seattle were by far the best team in the league that season, and their home ground (Memorial Stadium) was an absolute fortress. So it was amazing when we throttled Seattle 6-2 (8-2 on aggregate) at their home. Lots of flags on hand, including two Vancouver city flags, and after the match we got a huge round of applause from all the lads.

Worst: Travelling two hours of a 2.25 hour trip on a supporters bus from Busan to Gwangyang in South Korea, only to be told that the referee had decided to call the match due to rain as we were mere minutes away from the stadium. Hence a U-turn and another two-hour trip back to Busan. What a waste of a perfectly good Saturday afternoon!

Worst runner-up: Travelling 3.5 hours from Busan to Jeonju to see Busan lose 5-0. Then another 3.5 hours back. Aisshhhhh.

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Best experience was awarding the inaugural Voyageurs Cup to the Montreal Impact in '02. The culmination of a lot of work and discussion by a lot of people, and I felt honoured to be there and to take part in the ceremony. Kinda feels good to be in the middle of a field surrounded by 8,000 cheering fans.

I don't get to see enough live soccer to name a worst experience, it's all been pretty good. When I was about 10 years old my coach refused to sub me in for the entire championship game in my little rec league. I mean, fine, I wasn't much good, but 2 minutes' field time (in a league with unlimited subs) was pretty humiliating. It was my last game of organized soccer for nearly 20 years.

Yeah, the VCup day was a little better, as experiences go...

Allez les Rouges,

M@

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Best experience: U-19 final in Commonwealth. Nice too see the passion of the fans.

Worst experience : 2nd leg 1996 Olympic qualifier between Canada and Austalia. After seeing them tie 2-2 in Edmonton, it was hard to watch the team fall apart in Sydney. Didn't like the black kit either.

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Best:

1) River Plate at my Ecuadorean home team Liga de Quito in an incredibly beautiful SSS in front of 50,000 raging fans. It was the second leg of a Libertadores home and away where Liga had lost the first match 1-0. Liga came back to tie the game late at 1-1 and that's how it ended but I will never forget the noise and celebration and sheer joy at being with that kind of crowd at that kind of game. South American futbol really is unbelievable sometimes.

2) Watching Canada win the Gold Cup Final on TV on Commercial with a bunch of my closest friends. Still can't believe I didn't dream up that one.

Worst:

1) The worst game of soccer I have ever seen, played in the worst venue for a small-crowd draw, the first leg of last year's playoff series between Seattle and Vancouver. Sometimes I still wake up in a cold sweat, shaking and yelling "Call the match!"

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best-UEFA cup round 1 boedeaux V hearts, atmosphere was AMAZING and we won 1-0, best hearts game, even better than the 2-1 win over rangers in the scottish cup final 1998, lets hope we can beat another top class european team this year in the UEFA

worst-the 1 time i've been at easter road when the green vermin hibs beat us 1-0 with a last minute goal buy gary o' conner

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