Barcelona to travel to the US this summer!
By: Isaiah | March 24th, 2008Hip
Hip
Hooooorrraaaaaayyyyyy!!!!
It looks like our heroes will be making a trip across “the pond” this coming summer. According to the NYTimes (last week, and I missed it!), one FC Barcelona is 99% certain of playing in New York and Chicago in early August. Yours truly will goddamned be there, goddammit. I went when they played Red Bull a couple years ago and it was a blast. I won’t miss out on it this time either.
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Hmmmm. This could be great. See them in Chicago, then make my usual three-week summer France sojourn, for the Gamper match and a league match or two. Suh-WEET!
There’s only one complexity: Hopefully, the Chicago match will be at Soldier Field, which holds north of 60,000 people, rather than the Chicago Fire’s stadium in Bridgeview, which holds about 21,000. The Fire season ticket holders are a devoted bunch, and I can only imagine how crazy difficult a ducat that would be with only 21,000 of ‘em available.
But I’m betting that Soci members will have special accesss to tickets, pre-sale, so I should be okay either way.
Posted from
United States
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Kev, I would doubt that soci members get special treatment outside of the Nou Camp; Ticketmaster generally handles the ticket sales for the SUM, which is organizing this trip. However, I wish you the best of luck in getting tickets. The game will probably be at Soldier Field as it’ll be pre-NFL preseason and they would make way more money if it’s held there. The Chicago Fire will be out of town on an MLS road trip at the time, so my guess is Barca will play some other European squad in a friendly.
I wonder, though, about the lack of European players due to Euro2008 taking place just before that. They’ll probably be back, but you never know.
Posted from
United States -
Damnn! I hope they come to Chicago. I want it to be at Toyota Park since I live right on the edge of Chicago and the stadium is 10 minutes walking distance. On the other hand there would be a lot more tickets if it was at Soldier Field.
Posted from
United States -
Isaiah,
I’m sure I’ll be there for the game. My best friend up here is from Barcelona and last time he drove down for the game, so I’m sure I won’t miss it.
When it happens we will have to organize a ‘La Liga Offside’ get together, which entails tons of drinking and football.
Maybe even play an exhibition match in the park, jeje.
Posted from
United States -
I’m betting Soldier Field, as well. Profit maximisation, after all. There are WAY more than 21,000 folks who would want to see Barca. And I’d forgotten about Euro 2008. Makes you wonder who we’ll be seeing. Not that I care, since I’ll be at the Nou Camp for Gamper, etc, anyhow.
Soci members do get early purchase for some important away matches, such as Champions League, or El Clasico. Can’t wait to indoctrinate friends into the joys of blaugrana.
Posted from
United States -
i hope they come to seattle. a couple summers ago, real madrid played DC United in Seahawks Stadium (now called Qwest Field). little backwater seattle filled the friggin stadium, 65,000-plus soccer fans screaming their hearts out. best moment of the game was when roberto carlos ripped the ball away from freddy adu. get that overrated shit outta here, son!
after the game (a 1-1 tie) freddy adu said he was disappointed that most of the fans appeared to be cheering for madrid (it’s true, even i was, and i am 100% barca!) he said, “i thought this was america.” soccer trumps nationalism, apparently. and anyway, its boring to root for the gringos, the only empire more evil than Real Madrid. heh heh.
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United States -
Last week is was in the catalan papers too. Since people seem to be interested, I can post here the latest news about the summer tour in the future.
(pep)
Posted from
Belgium -
I’m sure we’re all interested, Pep. I definitely am, though I’ll try hard to post the exact locations, opponents, and game times as a full post. Sometimes I miss that news because I just don’t read all that much on goal.com and that sorta site (I’m very surprised I missed it in the NYT, though).
Posted from
United States -
Over at Goal.com, a site of fluctuating reliability, Ronaldinho to Inter is all but done. Nike will help finance the deal, and we’ve agreed to a 60 million Euro transfer fee. One request was Julio Cesar to us as part of the deal, but Inter said “Bwahahahahaha!” Materazzi is a name that has also come up, as I’m sure they are eager to get rid of that body-painted pain in the posterior. But know that if he came, my soul would fester. I will never forgive him for his World Cup final antics, and the damage done to my beloved Bleus by Zidane’s stack-blowing. So there.
But some folks seem to like The Matrix, so never mind my personal animus.
In other fun news, ah, those pesky kids: They pretty much ignored the Spanish national anthem at an international tournament. Now, these were under-nine players, not officially affiliated with us (sort of a name loaner), but there ya go. “We’re Catalan, yo,” they probably thought, and proceeded to do what kids do, while the anthem was playing.
Posted from
United States -
Well, it’s just what Catalans do.
Posted from
United States -
!!!
I AM SO THERE!!!
Being a Barcelona fan in the US is hard when hardly anyone knows your sport let alone your team, so my Barcelonified heart only beats strong in front of…well, my TV, and a few online friends…so now I can show my true colors WATCHING MY TEAM IN MY COUNTRY!
Now only to get tickets…oh dear Lord help me to get tickets!!!
Posted from
United States -
Any news on the west coast cities in early summer? Please say it’s true, please, please, pretty please!
If it is, I’ll be as giddy as a school girl!!! Can you say…ROADTRIP!!! I hope it’s in Seattle, that’s only 10 hours from here! Granted I’ll have to be doing 85mph, but here in Montana speed limits are optional.
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United States -
Excellent news for the US fans:
At the end of this season (so that would be in the second half of the month May) Barcelona will go to Saudi Arabia, Mexico and… the US (Los Angeles - they will play Chivas).
In the beginning of August they’ll fly again to the US, playing games in Chicago (opponent to be confirmed) and New York (against Red Bull). And maybe a third game somewhere else will be added.
Hope I made some days…
(pep)
Posted from
Belgium -
Thanks, Pep, for that little note. The official site hasn’t posted those dates, but hopefully they will soon. They’ve confirmed a friendly just after the end of the season against Kuwaiti team Kazma Sporting Club. The match will be played in Kuwait on May 27, so if you’re in the area, have at it!
Also, if you’re in Italy on July 30 and specifically in Florence, go see the Fiorentina-Barcelona friendly in honor of Artemio Franchi. The official site also says, “As part of the European year of intercultural dialogue, the game will also be played in support of fair play and anti-racism.”
Posted from
United States -
The Kuwait game could be cancelled, so don’t order your tickets yet!
Adding: the New York game would be on August 7th, the Chicago game earlier that month (4-5 August probably, you can’t see them take more than two days between the games).
(pep)
Posted from
Belgium
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